A Cure for Boredom
by athos-aramis
Summary: Zer0 seeks out a challenge, something that was difficult, something he could view as an equal. After a series of lackluster contracts, the lure of a vault and the rumors of the danger surrounding it is enough to take the assassin down a path that might prove to be the very thing he is searching for. Zer0 will be the main focus, but multiple POVs from all the vault hunters as well.
1. The Philosophy of a Kill

**AN: Zer0, Borderlands, and all of the creatures in its universe are obviously not of my creation. I never felt the desire to write in Borderlands after the first game, but the characters of the second made it much more compelling. This story will have Zer0 as a focus. It will follow the game more or less, but will most likely have things I've added in as well.**

**Also of note, I'm horrible and have left off a story in the Elder Scrolls that will take precedence over this until it is finished. So updates should be expected to be a tad slower, but hopefully the chapters will be long enough to be worth the wait (excluding this first introduction). I will not abandon this story, though, since Zer0 is just too much fun! His thoughts will not all be in Haiku, but I plan to make his attitude and personality that he shows to those around him as close to the game as possible.**

**Please, if you're reading this, leave a review. Positive, negative, indifferent, all types of feedback help!**

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_The universe we observe has precisely the properties we should expect if there is, at bottom, no design, no purpose, no evil, no good, nothing but blind, pitiless indifference._

_- Richard Dawkins, evolutionary biologist_

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**Chapter 1**

Blood flowed out from the crumpled form of what had been a man with the speed of a fresh wound. Zer0 watched entranced as the startling red stream began to pool into dark puddles on the saturated carpet, the precious fluid slowly growing thicker and cooler with time until it oozed more than ran. In the current climate, the postmortem changes only took a few hours as the body's biochemical processes began to shutdown or act erratically without the checks and balances of the brain on nerves and the nerves on the genes. It was an intoxicatingly beautiful process to watch when time allowed, giving even a boring, unchallenging kill some small satisfaction that it would otherwise lack.

Taking a final look at his target, he couldn't help but smile under his dark helmet that masked his face from the world. This human had been a politician, a man of significance by the standards of his race, but in the end he was no more significant than a bug. What did fame, fortune, or power matter if life was so easily taken without a fight or without any ability to stop death? Was not life the greatest marker of significance that existed? If all biological creatures existed only to eat, mate, and pass on their DNA, would that not mean that either the creature that existed the longest or the creature that was able to spread their DNA the furthest would become the most significant creature in existence?

_Yes,_ he thought blandly at the idea that had become a firm belief over the course of his own existence. _Those that are able to survive longer are more significant than those that cannot. And I can control that ability._

He stopped his thought there. He cared little for thoughts of some sort of god, fate, or otherworldly purpose and he did not want to waste the energy questioning if his skills and abilities meant anything beyond that he was better able to live than those he was paid to kill. His life, having been tested repeatedly through the challenges of various jobs, was more significant than those he had faced. And in that he was satisfied, perhaps even happy. But he longed for something more difficult than what he had recently been hired to face. A weak opponent did little to affirm his consequence in the universe; only the strong and difficult did that. For, in the end, the greater the challenge posed of his opponent or enemy the greater was his significance when his blade or bullet found their mark.

_But he was no challenge and I – I have grown bored._

Clenching his fists, he felt the black synthetic leather of his gloves bite into each of his eight fingers. It was a familiar feeling that quieted his mind for some unknown reason. Perhaps it was the comfort the material of his armor gave him when moved against his flesh. Or perhaps it was the reminder that the black, grey, and white suit made of small, fused together pieces of bullet-resistant material was not actually a physical part of himself and that he, like those he killed, was biochemical and dynamic in nature rather than a product of programming and synthetic engineering.

But whatever the reason, he was able to push the lackluster kill from his mind as he moved towards the window and leaped out towards the neighboring rooftop. Dawn would be coming quickly and there was no reason to linger in the politician's luxurious home. The money he earned from the hit was enough to allow him to take his time in seeking out a new job, one that held some difficulty to test his skills and life with. Already he had a few leads for new work. Some even meant finally traveling to a different planet. Perhaps, just perhaps, he would find his challenge there.


	2. Life, Death, and Creation

**AN: There were necessary things in this chapter for the story as a whole and unnecessary things. I'm hoping that it all comes together and works, but that will be for all you readers to let me know. Oh, and I'm adding more povs with the other characters to get breaks from the heaviness of Zer0's bits. Let me know what you think of this since it will most likely be****the last "thought" heavy chapter for a while.**

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******Chapter 2**

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_The essence of life is a statistical improbability on a colossal scale._

_Richard Dawkins, evolutionary biologist_

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Promethea was a welcomed sight after weeks on Eden-6. The cities of the latter were nothing more than a hurried rush of routine and predictable behavior. Just like all other animals, humans had patterns to their lives that left them feeling safe and comfortable. It made their actions and reactions unsurprising and dull, especially when they were faced with death. Zer0 was glad to escape their tedious lights and senseless feelings of importance. There was nothing that would challenge his skill or test his resolve in his overall significance.

But Promethea was different. It was rumored to be one of the harshest planets in the galaxy. The climate was a dry, hot one devoid of rain save once or twice a year making even underground reservoirs scarce and more valuable than gold. It created a cutthroat environment where the creatures that managed to survive were those that managed to dominate the few resources the desolate place provided. It was the sort of place that a challenge might present itself and Zer0 was restless to meet it.

The contract he had taken was well paid considering what it was. He cared little for the reason's behind his killings, especially when it was one so common as revenge. But still, perhaps the harshness of the world would spark something unexpected from the bandit he was hired to kill. Perhaps not. He did not like to dwell too long on those things that he would discover the answer to through observation and action. There was no reason to waste the time or energy with such thoughts. Therefore, rather than make useless conjectures he spent a portion of the two week trip from Eden-6 to Promethea in a state of restless waiting, his body folded into the air duct of the ship he had stowed away on. It was not a glamorous way to travel, but it was the easiest. He did not have to use bribes or threats, nor did he have to prepare for betrayal at the sight of his bounty. It saved him time and energy, both things valuable and largely conserved by all living organisms. He was no exception.

Still, he was happy enough to have some small tasks to complete during the journey rather than spend the entirety in idleness. The quiet and solitude of the air duct was an ideal time to make the small repairs his equipment needed, especially his helmet. Although it was not by any means a weapon that he could actively use against a target, the delicate upgrades he made to his faceplate alone were essential for many of his jobs. He had modified programs that gave him night vision and allowed him to hear as well as he would without the helmet on, if not better. It also extended his peripheral vision further than he would be able to see naturally, cutting down on the number vital blindspots that often got other assassins killed. But other than the technological advantages of it, his helmet was very good at protecting his head from any bullets that might happen to be aimed in his direction.

Zer0 did not believe that the advantages he gained through his helmet detracted for his level of skill, though. He looked at it as an evolutionary advantage granted through the adaptations of his frontal lobe. Where some creatures were given armor-like hides or poisonous venoms, he was a vertebrate and was given a far superior mind. It would simply be illogical and biologically counterintuitive for him to ignore the advantages given to him by nature while out testing his life against others. Besides that, he never used a gun against anything that he viewed to be a worthy challenge, making the advantages of improved sight and a larger visual field less crucial than when sniping from afar. Instead, when faced with a true adversary that was potentially his equal he would only use his digistructed sword, the close combat provided by the weapon making it necessary for both he and his challenger to have substantial skills in order to survive. And should it be his death and not his opponent's, he would like to be able to look on the face of the creature that was able to kill him and known who or what it was that was more significant than he.

Inevitably, thoughts of skills and kills, challenges and murder led him to wonder if death was his final goal. Was he only searching for the one thing that would ultimately expand his knowledge of life and universal order through meeting his own demise? He pondered the question those two weeks in space when not doing his repairs and always came back to the same line of reasoning. There was no greater value to life than to be alive or see your DNA passed on before dying. Therefore, to be considered of any consequence in the universe as a whole, beyond the foolish markers of power and success created by finite creatures like humans, you had to be incredibly successful at either living or procreating. But were there limits of any one creature's significance within the universe? Could one individual be looked on as the greatest biological and evolved creation to exist? And if so, who or what was that individual? Was it he, himself? Logic told him no, that it was very improbable that he out of all living, sentient creatures was that supreme being, but as time passed and death after death after death ran together into a blissfully bloody and tangled memory, he began to wonder. It made him crave the answer more and more, especially as what seemed to be a long life grew dull and predictable.

So he followed the pull of his cravings upon landing, letting his body slink out of its hiding place and out into the dusty wastes of the planet. He had been given very specific instructions on how to find the group of bandits whose leader was marked for death. It would be a small camp, no more than a few shelters surrounded by garbage sitting in the middle of the open desert that made up the wasteland of Promethea. If he followed the flattened bit of dirt that counted for a road from the main Atlas Corporation base he supposedly would reach his destination in a few days time.

Zer0 happily complied with the instructions of his current employer, working out his stiff muscles from his trip by slinking along the road in the darkness of night. He didn't bother to stay completely out of sight as he traveled, though there was little in the way of cover even if he had wanted to. Still, undeveloped planets like Promethea were hubs of mercenaries, bandits, and adventurers making his garb and weapons little more than another passing oddity not worth raising an alarm for. But as it was, he didn't pass another soul as he moved east in the moonlight, making him wonder at the reputation the planet had for difficult life. _Maybe boredom is what makes it such a hard place to live,_ he thought blandly as the sun had barely set on his third day of walking and already he could see the small outline of what was the bandit camp.

The setting was far from ideal for his solitary work as an assassin with nothing in the way of rocks or crags or even sandy dunes to help hide him from view as he slowly picked off the weaker men tasked with guarding their camp. At least it meant that there was little in the way of hiding spots for the bandits, leaving only the camp itself as a source for danger. Still, he preferred to be cautious and not underestimate his enemies, so he would do as he always did and observe his prey to learn their weaknesses and patterns of behavior. Pressing himself against the dusty ground, he pushed his rifle against his shoulder and used the scope to watch the camp's movements and routines in the dark of night.

The place was not very impressive, he noted, with weak walls made of old scrap metal and a few roughly built buildings to house what appeared to be only ten members. It was a very small number for a bandit gang, marking it either as a newer group or as a weaker one that did not attract many strong members. Immediately he felt his hopes for the job drop. _A true challenge to my skill would have a greater following_. _There will be only weakness here_.

But a job was a job and he had taken it. It still would prove more interesting than most of his more infamous killings of the rich and famous. The hierarchy that made up worlds like Eden-6 or Themis made little logical sense. Often a weak human with little ability for any true skill of worth was raised up and given power while those with abilities and strength spent their time protecting their leader. It was a stupidly flawed system that led to stupidly boring contracts. Bandits, unlike politicians and CEOs, at least lived to fight and had a chain of command that he could understand. The most powerful was the man on top, with those that were weaker filling in the ranks below. Unfortunately, his targeted camp seemed to be lacking any real power making it yet again another stupid, unchallenging kill.

Still, he reminded himself, the stupidity of the contract did not matter now that he had taken the job. So instead of grumbling about the strangeness of human social structures and the overall trivialness of the species as a whole he continued to observe, slowly take in each member that happened by and every detail of the overall camp. After hours of seeing nothing that would prove a true obstacle, he finally set to work by lazily picking out one of the six small figures walking about the camp on some sort of useless guard duty. Breathing in deeply, he let the air flow out of his lungs in a steady stream as his finger pushed against the resistance of the trigger. The beautifully chaotic effect was instantaneous at the echoing bang from his rifle. The men began to turn erratically, searching for its source of sudden noise. This became even more frenzied as they spied their fallen comrade with a small hole spouting red liquid in his head.

Zer0 smiled, the red hologram emote face mimic his own floating above his visual field as he locked onto his next victim, his finger squeezing the trigger without a second thought to the life his bullet was about to take. _And then there were four,_ he thought as the remaining bandits started shooting blindly at the phantom assailant. But he didn't pay much mind to the sounds of their guns as he squeezed his trigger again, and again, and finally for a fifth and sixth time until no one remained for him to kill.

_Time to move._

Without a second thought, he stored his rifle and leaped up from his spot to start the real fun. Running at a full sprint, he was half way to the camp when the first shots of the previous unseen bandits began to ring out around him. _Three on the gate with another on the ground inside,_ he noted based on the location of the noise. He reached for his sidearm, pulling it from its holster on his hip as his feet continued to take long, quick strides to close the distance between him and the camp. He had spent years practicing at shooting moving targets while on the run himself, making what was to come nothing more than habit. He let the sounds of the gunfire guide his senses as he lifted his arm to what felt like a perfect angle and quickly let off a round. Immediately he repositioned and shot again, the two loud thuds that followed being all he needed to tell him that he had found his targets.

_One on the gate and another on the ground inside, _he repeated as the sound of a shotgun rang out, small pellets of birdshot bouncing off his shield with little more than a harmless stinging sensation. Lifting his pistol again, he wasted no time in letting out another shot, not stopping to see if the bullet found its mark. _One on the ground inside._

"Slag you! You're gonna wish you never came here!" a voice called out from behind the quickly approaching gate. Exchanging his gun for the long, digistructed sword he slowed his steps to a stop, allowing his enemy to approach him.

"I'm going to kill you and then string you up by your insides!" the man shouted, shooting his pistol widely as he thoughtlessly charged the waiting assassin. Zer0 didn't move, letting his shield absorb the bullets were meant for his abdomen. He always liked the strange faces men seemed to make when they thought they were about to defeat him. Their eyes often grew wide and wild, the colors of their irises becoming brighter while some sort of barbaric smile consumed the lower portion of their faces. The bandit charging him was no different, the assassin observed as another pulse of bullets pushed against the invisible shield that protected him, allowing him to savor this brief moment of unique human folly.

"I am before you," Zer0 called out, holding his sword at an angle tight to his chest as his enemy closed in. The bandit's grin grew at what appeared to be an easy target, his gun pointing higher towards the assassin's head and firing just as Zer0 dropped and rolled towards the man's feet, coming up on his knees and jabbing his sword vertical, the slight resistance of skin and organs pushing against his muscles.

"And yet you cannot strike me. I'm invincible," the assassin finished reciting to the gasping man as he pulled his sword back, leaving a long wound that passed from his lower gut then up and out through his back, severing three of the bandit's major vessels with cool precision.

_You were no challenge,_ he thought as the quickly dying man dropped to the ground with a sickly thud, the large hologram 0 being the last thing the bandit would ever see.

"_You!_" a sudden shout filled the air.

"And the leader comes. To avenge his clan, perhaps? You're going to die, bitch," Zer0 sang out mockingly as he took in the burly man that once had led ten other men. He clearly was a man of show, his muscles large to the point of reducing his range of motion, while he was forced to maintain and unnaturally wide stance to support the awkward weight of attempting to hold two shotguns at one time. The assassin almost laughed at the ridiculously ineffective fighting style this _leader_ had chosen to face him with.

The bandit chief roared out again, firing one of his guns with the obvious thought that it would be imposing. _The common mistake,_ the assassin thought as he began to run forward, darting left and right with each shot to avoid the malicious slugs. _More is not better_.

The shots became more wild with each miss, each barrel giving up its few shots without any success. Zer0 moved in closer, his sword held tight against his body so as to move with the same serpentine motions of its master. The bandit made another unintelligible noise as he shot off what had to be the fifth and final rounds from both of his guns simultaneously, forcing him to step back a few paces with the momentum of his attack. It was the opening the assassin was hoping for.

Bursting forward, Zer0 swung his sword out to the left, his feet doing a graceful pirouette that carried his whirling body into a tight circle, the momentum of his spine enough to carry his razor-sharp blade through the muscular man's torso. The clattering of guns on the ground and the delicious feeling of vibrations moving from his sword into his arms sent a wave of pleasure through him as he stopped his spin and gazed down at the motionless pieces that once had been a bandit. "Ow."

After a few moments of silence, the assassin allowed his body to relax and take in the stillness that came from annihilating the camp before stooping down to loot the bloody mess of a body. He felt no shame for stealing the dead man's money or ammunition. He was, after all, dead and would not need any material possessions any longer. And surely his employer would not lose any sleep over the thought of a corpse being a left a little lighter. It was just another unspoken part of the job, no questions asked, no disappointing answers given.

Besides, in the end most humans were happy to not know the full details the less glamorous things. Death, disease, famine, poverty, it was uncomfortable and given the choice they would happily ignore it. Zer0 had little doubts his employer didn't really care to know how many others died with the bandit chief or even the full extent of the fatal injuries. All he would care about is the digital image of the thug's lifeless head that the assassin carefully captured using the faceplate of his helmet to give proof of the deed. Job accepted, payment received, kill confirmed. It was nothing more than a well-practiced routine that would end his brief relationship with an unknown man.

_And now, nothing._

It was an all to familiar feeling, the emptiness that came with the silence after the kill. He almost could block out the sense of intrusion that oozed from the quiet, begging for him remove his taint of life from a place that now belonged to death. Surveying the scene one last time, he nodded at the fallen bodies as if to acknowledge their brief and failed attempt at life before leaving them to whatever creatures inhabited the desolate planet.

Having no new job waiting for him, he decided it would be best to just follow the road further and see what he found. There was no reason to stay hidden, like he often felt forced to do in the developed worlds of Eden-5 or Eden-6 where the military or government police seemed to always be watching for him after the numerous high profile hits he had performed. But on Promethea, he was a stranger, an unknown man wearing a masked helmet and carrying a large gun. The image alone would probably be enough to make bandits hesitate in attacking him, making his journey far less interesting than he hoped it would be. _But then again, humans are foolish. They rush into situations without thinking, observing, understanding. _

Unfortunately, the flat, barren miles passed uneventfully, his body moving him forward well through the night and into the following day. His limbs started to feel heavy as the sun beat down on him, its strange intensity draining his energy far quicker than he had anticipated. Usually he could go days without truly sleeping, refreshing his body only with periodic mediation that did wonders to relax his mind to a near REM state. But as night approached he began to consider the possibility of needing to fully let his guard down and truly sleep. It was not something he liked to do in places he was still unfamiliar with. Too much could happen when the mind was not alert and the body not ready for action. But then again, mistakes were often made when fatigue grew to the point of fogging his mind.

_And mistakes are just as deadly as unawareness. I must sleep, _he finally conceded, his well trained eyes searching for anything that could potentially be used as a shelter on the completely flat world. It was another hour after deciding on a course that something finally broke the empty horizon, the shape jutting up towards the sky. _This is promising,_ he thought as he quickened his pace towards the potential shelter.

Slowly, it grew in size, the perfect lines of its borders giving it a distinctly manmade feel rather than a natural structure, such as a rocky hill. _Bandits?_ he wondered as he moved towards it, not at all displeased with the idea of having to fight for a secure place to rest. But in this, too, he was disappointed as signs began to pop up along the road, marking the place as some sort of colony that was most likely failing in an attempt to make the dusty planet livable. In fact, upon reaching the gate it was obvious that the settlement was not much better than the bandit camp he had just left. Its walls were nothing more than pieces of scrap and the buildings looked as if they were about to fall apart.

_Poverty and boredom is what gives this planet its reputation_, he decided as he slowly made his way through, keeping to the shadows provided by the flimsy wall surrounding the settlement. But even that small precaution proved to be unnecessary as most of the one-story scrap metal buildings appeared to be uninhabited, the windows dark and empty. In fact, the only noise he heard was the sounds of a man and woman mating in the building directly to the gate's left and the cacophony of multiple conversations drifting from the only building with lights shining brightly. He watched the building for a few minutes, picking out unique voices, laughs, and sounds until he felt confident that he knew most of what lay inside. _Eight men, one woman, a ceiling fan, and liquid being poured into glasses, _he listed to himself, visualizing the bar and its contents. _A good place to check for sleep_.

He moved in the shadows, letting the darkness cloak him as he carefully slunk towards a window he spotted and slipped inside. It was always better to be unseen when entering a new situation in his experience, and when it came to the dangerous act of sleeping, he was more than wary. But after a few minutes of silent observation he felt that the bar would be no more dangerous than finding a spot in the wilderness to allow the vulnerabilities of sleep to claim his body. From what he could tell, most of the men talking loudly over their drinks were regulars, most likely living in the settlement or nearby at smaller outposts. There were a few that were obviously travelers, their dirty faces lined with weariness giving them away. A few wore weapons, most, though, did not. _Favorable._

Turning his attention to the rest of the building, he was happy to see that there was only one door but many more windows, making it harder for uncreative enemies to enter but easier for someone like him to leave if necessary. The only other opening was a trapdoor poorly hidden in a corner filled with barrels and a single door that stood open near the bar. The former most likely only led to storage, but what was beyond the latter was less certain. He couldn't make out much past the doorway, but was happy to note one of the strangers saying he rented a spot at the inn, making it likely the door led to rentable rooms.

With the chance to sleep unmolested in a room, he finally looked to the small barmaid and decided she was probably unlikely to ask too many questions. She had a shrewd look about her angular features that he liked while her simple brown hair marked her as practical. _This will do_, he thought as he moved from his spot, approaching her as silently as he would a kill. "A room for the night," he said aloud, letting the rest of his poem fill his head as the woman looked him over. _Weariness has settled in. I desire sleep._

For a moment the woman did not speak. He watched her as she looked him, his gaze and expressions hidden by his mask. Her expressions and the lingering glance of her eyes giving away all to clearly her conclusions about him. It made her future actions predictable. She was unsettled by him and disliked his gun. She wore one of her own. Should he act in a way she disliked she would move for the weapon with her right hand and raise it up towards him, most likely to his chest, and shoot. Based on the type of gun and her smaller build, she would recoils slightly to her right, making her next shot further from her mark. It was all so predictable, as was what would follow if her face fell into that determined frown that so many humans wore when they decided to do something they didn't care for. Killing, it seemed, was one such thing as was dying. The latter would most certainly be the woman's fate should she decide to use her gun. He would simply move towards her left while bringing up his blade, avoiding any bullets she might be lucky enough to shoot. It would be yet another unsatisfying kill.

"It's a common room," she answered, her eyes firmly fixating on his rifle.

_How annoying,_ he thought as his face fell into a large enough scowl to trigger his helmet's neuromuscular sensors, the faceplate responding by reflecting his physical reaction to the news in a bright red emote of frustration. This method of communication seemed to unsettle the woman further, a frown pulling heavily on her lips.

"It's all I got. So if it's not to your standards I don't need no trouble. You can have yourself and drink and find your way out."

_It is not to my standards,_ he thought blandly as the idea of letting his body be at its most vulnerable near strangers was far from what he considered being a wise course of action. Even with light sleeping and quick reflexes it was a foolhardy position to consciously set into. _But my body needs rest._

Scanning the tavern again, he lingered on the trapdoor in the corner once more. It would be completely dark and cool due to being underground while at the same time if he was lying bent among barrels of beer and whiskey he would be largely unseen and secure. _It might do_, he thought as he made his decision, his faceplate becoming blank of the ellipsis that had shone out only moments before.

He nodded at the barmaid, a small smile playing at his lips as he watched her hand twitch over her gun. But there was some hesitation there that would slow her movements as the impulse of a conscious decision took precious microns before coming to fruition in muscle contraction in the average man. He was faster. Still, she was no challenge to be testing his reflexes on and he truly did feel the burning need for sleep fill him. So rather than antagonize the woman, he drew out a few bills from his suit and made his way to the common room where he would wait for the opportunity to slip out and down through the trap door.

He could feel her eyes following him as he moved towards the room with watchful suspicion, but it still didn't take long for the woman to get preoccupied with her other customers and their idle chatter and drink orders. Moving back into the shadows, he swiftly made his escape through the hatch where sleep and solitude awaited him. But immediately he realized he had made a mistake. The underground room was mostly empty. There was not a single barrel of beer or crate of food to be seen. Instead, a bed sat against the far wall with a small chest making up the only other piece of furniture. _She must sleep here,_ he realized with even greater annoyance.

For a few minutes he stood there weighing his options. He could return the common room, but that seemed like a foolish choice considering the bounty on his head and how little he knew of the settlement, its people, and the planet as a whole. He could leave and push onward, seeking out another place that would be isolated and secure for sleeping, but that too didn't seem like a very realistic choice. From what he had seen of Promethea it was flat and without anything that would provide shelter apart from the settlement and the bandit camp he had left the night before. It left him with only one option that seemed plausible for the state his body and mind already were in. Sleep and hope the barmaid had a lover she visited. _And if not, kill her._ It was the most logical plan with the least amount of work and risk necessary. The woman would not be much to handle, should he have to, and should his unsupported assumption be correct, he would be able to sleep without worry of anyone disturbing him. Yet, just in case he was wrong, he decided against the bed and sat on top of the chest, letting his back slouch against the wall for support. It would be the easiest position to move from if things went wrong, unlike the typical sleeping posture most used. Deciding he was as prepared for the barmaid's potential entrance as he could be, he let his eyes close under his mask and quickly fell into the oblivion of sleep.

...

The soft creak and thud of the trapdoor opening woke him immediately. He didn't even have to look to know that his assumption was wrong and that the woman did not have a male in the settlement to be with. As she moved around the small space without the aid of light he knew a second option had presented itself. She could not see him, he could simply wait for her to find her bed and fall asleep and sneak away into the night, but it would at the expense of his own rest. The other was do as he had planned and cut her throat, allowing him the optimal amount of sleep without any other fear of being disturbed.

The choice was obvious, his body moving before he even became aware that he had made it. In one swift lunge he moved behind her, his hand covering her mouth while his other arm tightly crushed her arms to his body, rendering her helpless. She wiggled and squirmed for a moment, testing the strength of his muscles a single choked scream coming from her lips.

"Shh," he whispered softly, his head instinctually moving towards her ear. _There is no one here. You are helpless and alone. Your screams are unheard, _he thought in the rhythmic manner he had developed over years of seclusion. But like so many things, there was no need to say it aloud. The woman knew she was trapped, her choppy breathing told him so as he let his hand find the gun she still wore and tossed it carelessly aside. She was like a farm animal, silent and afraid as the slaughter approached, anticipating some sort of finality that was soon to come.

He moved slowly, pushing her away from the walls of the room so he would have more room to act when he killed her. But as they neared her bed he felt her head rest against his chest, the warmth of her flesh noticeable under his suit. He wasn't sure why but it was unsettling at just _how_ easily she was taking her death. Despite having the higher intelligence lacking in things like a cow or a pig that would allow her to fully picture what was about to occur she fought even less then they would. It was strange and completely incomprehensible. She did not speak, she did not fight, she did not beg, she did not try to call out for help, she just submitted.

_There is no challenge in this, _he thought with a bit of disgust. _What creature doesn't fight even a little for their life?_ _Is this all there is left for the universe to offer me? Weak creatures that just submit?_

It was a horrible thought. Nothing had challenged him in years. _Nothing_. Not the true challenge he desired where he felt his life in the balance, the question of whether or not there was some being greater in consequence than himself. He had not tasted the satisfaction or the addicting surge of adrenaline that came with almost dying in so long that he began to doubt the statistical probability that there was someone or something that was better suited at survival than he. Would he not have met them already? Would they not be seeking him out just as he sought them for the thrill of the challenge and for the further understanding of what was his place in the universe? He could not understand why he had been unable to find what he sought for so many years.

"Bor-ed, bor-ed, bor-ed," he finally muttered, a sense of emptiness filling him as the slightly mechanical sound his helmet gave to his voice filled the room. "Bored bored bored bored bored bored bored. I am really BORED! I sit here and wait. So eager to move onward. But it's all in vain."

"What are you waiting for?"

Her voice was soft but even, a mild curiosity coming through but lacking the tone that would imply a challenge for him to strike. Rather it seemed like a larger question, the one that had been plaguing him for some time. _What am I waiting for?_ he wondered, the question appearing as a red hologram in front of his eyes. Was there actually anything out there any that was worth the wait?

"Who are you?" the woman asked, cutting into his thoughts with a question that he heard often.

_No, what are you,_ he corrected, realizing it had been years since someone actually cared _who_ he was. But did it matter? He was an assassin, a nameless ghost with no bonds connecting him to any home or people. _The who and the what are the same, _he thought apathetically as he activated his decoy, his black hologram invisible in the night as he stepped away from the woman, watching her surprised expression for a precious few seconds before his body materialized again.

"And I disappear; A ghost amidst the darkness. Waiting for something."

"What are you waiting for?"

Again, that question. That damned question with no answer. He barely acknowledge the room filling with red light as his faceplate displayed another question mark, his mind suddenly weary with the immensity and insignificance of it all. He let his body sink to the bed as the realization that if this was all that was left for him in the universe he no longer had a feeling of purpose. Yes there was always the unthinking natural purpose of life and death, but that need to do and be something would be gone. He would have the answer to his question and it would be an utterly dissatisfying one.

_I am missing something_. _I must be_. _If life is only significant if your DNA is alive through you or your offspring, this cannot be the end. There must always be a challenge to life or it loses all significance and becomes meaningless. I am alive, so where is the challenge to this?_

The woman shifted slightly next to him, her feet rooted firmly to the spot he had placed her despite his no longer holding her there. She was not a challenge to his life and she never would be. The only way she would ever act as a test of his place in the world is if he attempted to create a life in her and her body rejected it…

A sudden realization filled him at the new idea that had just formed. Mating. It was the other, untested side to discovering the limits of life and universal consequence. If there were no more challenges to his being alive then the only one that remained was to mate and spread his genes to future generations.

The decision was made. Moving back on the bed, he began the irregular routine of undressing. It was not often that he removed every bit of his suit all at one time and it never happened in the presence of another, but he felt the security of the complete darkness to act in place of his suit to mask his identity. Pulling off his helmet, he felt the air cool on his matted hair while his neck felt oddly light without its habitual weight. He let his eyes adjust to the darkness naturally, enjoying the visual blindness that forced his ears to draw a picture of what was happening around him. _She still stands there,_ he thought bemused as he slipped off his suit, gloves, and boots, waiting still for her to make a move.

Seconds ticked away, the sound of her uneven breathing adding life to the cold darkness and a wondering curiosity in him. Would she go along with his plan? She should, if this was truly a practice of evolutionary principles. _If there is nothing greater living in this universe, the female should recognize my genetic superiority and be drawn into mating, _he reasoned as she still remained unmoving.

Yet after a few more moments of waiting he began to doubt his theory again. He quickly ran through all the data and research he had studied, the philosophies and scientific theories of ancient and recent men that spoke of life and its significance, reasoning that if there was consciousness about any one topic it had some sort of meaning beyond the randomness of chemicals binding to create more and more complex structures. _No, this has to be right,_ he assured himself. _Perhaps she just needs some sort of mating call?_

It seemed reasonable. Other vertebrates used mating rituals to attract a partner, so why not humans? Unfortunately, the only ritual when involving sex that he had witnessed in the species was the use of obvious innuendos and alcohol, neither of which he felt particularly inspired to do. Instead, he decided on making his intentions clear through an easy invitation of patting the spot next to him. There was no mistaking its meaning and it didn't involve him having to speak to the woman more than he already had.

The noise seemed to startle her a little, though, as her breathing stopped and he could almost feel her eyes searching for him. He waited anxiously for her to make the decision he felt confident she would make, but when she finally did move it was towards the trapdoor rather than to the space in the bed. _Interesting,_ he thought wondering briefly if he did something wrong. For a moment he considered leaping up and forcing her, but he reconsidered knowing that fertilization was a delicate process that could potentially be disrupted by excess stress hormones. _Perhaps this is not the challenge I should be seeking,_ he thought with a long sigh as the uncertainty of his questions returned full force.

Yet as suddenly as she had made him question himself, she surprised him yet again by moving back towards him and laid next to him without uttering a single word. _Interesting._

A smile crept to his face as a rush of adrenaline began to fill his veins. This would be something different, something new in his quest for answers and understanding. Granted, it was not using his well-honed skills of deception, stealth, and accuracy, but he assumed that his body would know what to do as it was a biologically innate sort of task before him.

_But where to start,_ he wondered as the woman sighed. Turning towards her, he strained to make his naked eyes see her clearly in the utter blackness of the hole. Yet even his superior genes did little more than give him a general outline of where she waited, her heart beating loud enough for him to hear. Finally, feeling like some action had to be done, he reached out and touched her arm, her warm skin feeling strange against his ungloved hand. He wasn't sure if it was a pleasant sensation or just odd, but he hadn't realized just how _alive_ the skin felt. As far as he could recall he had never taken the time to really feel another's body, especially with bare skin. It was always just a chance encounter while completing a contract that his gloved hand would actually make contact with the person's flesh.

Shifting again, he wondered if the rest of her skin would feel like her arm. Would it be warm with a touch of moisture, the pulse bursting through the layers protecting it from dangerous things like his blade? Or would there be subtle changes in its texture and overall composition? Moving up her arm he paid close attention to each sensation and how the woman reacted until reaching the edge of her clothing.

It didn't take much for the woman to react. She quickly removed the clothing and waited for him to continue. For a moment he wondered if he should just push forward and complete his self-given task without further exploration. But the opportunity to experience something different was too much of a distraction for him to just continue in the most efficient manner possible. Instead, he let his hand feel the skin of her face, moving down her neck and chest to her stomach. There he waited again, not only because there was no more exposed skin, but also because he found the odd rumbles and movements of peristalsis and digestion to be so surprisingly intriguing. For the first time he realized just how easy it was to ignore the more primitive aspects of life, such as regular body functions, when all he was focused on was a creatures gross movements and how best to place his blade to do the most damage.

But his thoughts were interrupted as the woman moved again to shed the cloth that covered her. He didn't care, though, as he felt her stomach more, letting the muscles of her organs push against his palm as he applied pressure. He followed the rhythmic contractions of her bowel, letting it lead him around her abdomen towards her hips. It was at that point that the woman made an odd noise, the kind only associated with human mating. It surprised him that all it took was his hand against her skin to make her react in such a way.

He wondered if he should proceed or if he could continue his observations for a while longer, but her body provided him with the answer as her muscles tensed as if waiting for something big. It was almost a disappointment, as he felt no real rush to mate with this particular woman. He had no bond with her like he had observed many humans forming with those they mated with. Nor did he find her particularly alluring, so there was no sense of frenzied need. No, this was purely experimental. It was just another way to justify his place in the universe and answer the lifelong question of why he was who he was with no others like him. There had to be some meaning to it, but the only logical one he had ever found was in the basic principles of physics, chemistry, mathematics, and biology. All things must fall into their laws and fulfill their purpose, including him. Survive and mate, mate and survive. Theses were the foundations of life, providing a purpose to the very existence of the odd phenomenon.

With that thought in mind, he grabbed her hands and proceeded, letting his hands, mouth, and body provide him with further sensations until the act was done. He felt exhausted in a way he hadn't expected, his body hot and sweaty as if he had just performed some sort of athletic feat rather than something all living creatures, sentient or not, did in one form or another. Moving away, he felt his eyes grow heavy and demand rest. He felt the fog begin to drift over him just as he began to wonder if his DNA would even be compatible with the woman's to produce offspring, but sleep found him before he could find an answer.

...

Zer0 woke naturally after what had to have been only a few short hours. Of course, it was impossible to tell in the pitch black of the hole but he felt it was a reasonable assumption since the barmaid still slept next to him. Grabbing his gear, he quickly dressed and felt the comforting weight of his helmet on his neck. All at once the room alive as his helmet restored his sight.

_She is mild for a human, _he thought as he watched her slow breathing his thoughts turning to her meekness the night before and all the events that had followed. It had been odd, to say the least, and very out of the ordinary for him. He had no interest in normal interactions with other creatures, let alone seeking out the more physical side of socialization. And now that he had experienced what humans seemed to rave about, he couldn't help but feel let down. Unlike his work, there was no immediate sense of grandeur or power upon completion of mating, nor did he feel that he had any new answers or ideas coming from the act. Overall, killing was so much easier and so much more satisfying. Mating, he had decided, was overrated.

_But perhaps in a few months time something will change,_ he thought again, looking at the woman. She probably was not the sort to make impulsive decisions from what he had witnessed in her reaction to nearly being killed. She would most likely allow an unexpected life to grow and be born. After that, well who knows what she would do. She definitely would have questions upon seeing the child, if one could even be created between them.

A small hologram smile floated in front of his faceplate as he crept out of the hole at the idea of what his offspring might look like or be like. He could imagine what his traits would give to the unborn thing; long limbs, slender body, a distinct _otherness_ when compared to a pure human, but then again maybe there would not be as many differences as he assumed. It was hard to know how genetics would play out if viable offspring was actually created.

_If this works, I must know. _Reaching into his pocket, he pulled out one of his wanted posters that had been circulated on Eden-6. He liked looking at it from time to time, enjoying the hefty bounty the humans had placed on him that marked him as a true threat. He was dominant; the master predator in their little ecosystem and the humans knew it. They feared him and that was a small comfort when the jobs had started to become too easy and the boredom started to set in. He really didn't need the poster to remind him of their fear. His memories would do just fine. The bit of paper would better serve him by giving his name to the woman so she could attempt at finding him should life be created. _And she will want answers,_ he thought again with a smile as he slipped out of the bar to begin searching for a new challenge to undertake.

Moving just off the road, he followed the deserted path into the flat wastes of the planet, his feet barely carrying him out of the settlement when a small buzzing noise suddenly filled his helmet indicating that a new job was waiting for his approval. Smiling, he let the information from his complex computer network spread across his faceplate, giving all the details and information the potential employer provided. As often was the case, there was no mention of how this individual found out about him, let alone how to reach his network, enter the information, pass through his security checks, and finally deposit the money, but it didn't matter to Zer0. So long as it was not some government agent attempting to locate him or discover his true identity he did not care who accessed the largely unsophisticated system he had set up, whether it be revolutionaries, some corporate representative, or a sister looking for vengeance over the murder of her brother.

_More bandits,_ he sighed, reading the description of a man that had tortured the middle-aged engineer, leaving only a scorched remain for the family to eventually bury. The familiar sense of boredom began to build as he read on about orphaned children, pure evil, and other such nonsense the simple humans thought would move him to take a contract. There was nothing at all in the job that sounded difficult. Bandits were just so _easy_.

_No,_ he thought disappointed, his eyes scanning the information one more time before giving his rejection when he suddenly stopped. The job was not located on some highly civilized planet like Athenas or Themis, it was on one of the borderlands filled with convicted criminals, cutthroats, and the insane. It sounded more promising than even Promethea had when he agreed to his last job for at least something out of the ordinary. Planets in the borderlands had the reputation for being violent and unpredictable, which could be the perfect environment to breed someone skilled enough to truly challenge him.

_Pandora. Could be interesting_.

* * *

Maya waited restlessly on the small cargo ship as the brown-orange ball grew larger and larger with their approach. "Pandora," she whispered excitedly, her silver eyes growing wide with expectations. She had never left Athenas before although she always had wanted to. Looking back, she didn't know how it took her so long to realize that the monks that raised her were suffocating her, smothering her life with their condescending parental bullshit. But they weren't her parents and they most definitely weren't her problem any more.

"How long until we land?" she asked, her normally dry voice taking on the excitement of a little girl getting a trip to the theme parks of Eden-5.

"Hour at most. Just sit back until we're down," the pilot answered as he set about pushing various buttons and levers that made up the ship's controls. Maya did as she was told, knowing after the three weeks in space that the two men that flew the cargo ship weren't interested in any sort of mindless chatter. She was there because she paid them well and had been stubborn enough to ignore their warnings about the planet and its dangers. _And they don't know I'm a siren,_ she thought, pulling her threadbare jacket that covered her tattoos closer to her body.

Staring out the window, she wondered how people would react to her tattoos once she was on the planet that promised to hold the answer to her siren lineage. Would they be accepting of her since all the research she had found had come from their planet? Or would they fear her like the people of Athenas did? She hoped it wouldn't be the latter, though she would settle for a cautious respect if that was the best she could get. _I just hope that what they say about this place is true._

"Hold tight, now," the pilot called back as the ship began to shake violently. "We're entering their atmosphere!"

She clutched her seat, strands of her short blue hair falling over her eyes while the ship bounced and shook its way towards the ground. Almost as quickly as it had started the violent movements stopped, abruptly throwing her forward almost out of her seat. The crashing, crunching noise of metal on metal with their landing made her think for a moment that something had gone terribly wrong, but the satisfied "We're here," from the pilot told her otherwise.

"It's safe to get out?" she asked cautiously, not sure if she really could believe that she had actually done it. She had actually left her home and the Abbey and found the one place that might have answers for her.

"Safe? Hell no, it's not safe! This is Pandora, honey. Like I told you before, this ain't no place for a nice afternoon stroll."

"Oh, yeah, well you know what I meant."

"Grab your stuff and you can climb out the loading hatch. We're leaving in two hours if you change your mind and have another five hundred bucks," the pilot finished with a smile. "Otherwise, g-luck out there."

"Thanks!" she replied, not wasting any time to do as he said. Grabbing her small pack, she quickly made her way to the back of the ship and hopped out to see the planet that she had been dreaming about for months. "Wow."

It was much different than she had anticipated. She knew that it was an arid planet, with most of the water being trapped in snow and ice in the far north and south, leaving the center almost an entirely uninterrupted desert. But still, she had thought that there would be some of the technological improvements like fake ponds and rivers or mechanically generated and maintained forests like so many of the other planets. Even Athenas, though largely an easy climate to handle with plenty of resources, had pockets of the manmade climates to add some flavor to the natural terrain.

_So what if it's not as developed. You're here for answers,_ she chided herself as she pulled out a utility belt she had purchased to hold her guns and grenades, securing it at an angle over her dark pants and yellow top. "So let's go see what we can find!"

Giving a final wave to the cargo ship, she started down the road looking for an adventure and an explanation as to why she was what she was.


	3. A Waiting Game

**AN: Wow a month flies by very quickly. View this as a nice introduction chapter to all the other main characters of the story. A little slow on the action, but the next chapter will more than make up for it. Now I believe I responded individually to all reviews with accounts. If I missed you I am sorry and I appreciated your review.**

**Guest: Thanks for the review on this and the one-shot. I don't think I'm being completely secretive about what Zer0 is, but my whole theory on his background really won't be spelled out until much later in the story. I will neither confirm nor deny any guesses at this time.**

**ShadyVirus: Thanks for the enthusiastic review! I hope I continue to live up to that level of love **

**Lasher: Yes there will be more action and I don't plan to ignore the craziness of the planet but as you will see I have fleshed out some explanations as to why there are so many odd people there. And it's really not a guess, I am basing it on the information Gearbox has released on Pandora's history. I hope Zer0 still feels in character with this chapter and I really hope you continue on to the next chapter were there will be lots of fighting. It will follow the main questline pretty much with some things added in.**

**Ant Hill: Now that you mention that I could see it.**

**There you have it. Please let me know what you think with a quick review. I do really appreciate your thoughts on where this story is headed.**

* * *

_**Chapter 3**_

* * *

_Nothing happens until something moves._

_ ~ Albert Einstein_

* * *

Axton closed his eyes, letting the heat soak into his face as he tried to wait patiently for the transport Hyperion had promised him. For a few minutes the comforting warmth on his face distracted him from the uncomfortable bench that made his back ache and the fact that he hadn't seen any action in days, but in the end his mind and body grew restless making it impossible for him to just sit quietly. He had never understood the point of being patient anyways. It was a pointless virtue in his opinion leading him to have no qualms at abandoning his halfhearted attempt at waiting calmly for a train that never seemed to come.

He began to pace with a steady rhythm while holding his rifle close to his chest, giving him the appearance of a well-trained soldier going about his rounds rather than a hired gun waiting for a train. It was no surprise, though, considering that it was not too long ago that he _had _been a military man with years of training and following the stuffy protocols that came with it. But now things were different. He was no longer a decorated soldier but a damned good mercenary after the military failed to recognize his obvious talent. Even his ex-wife, Sarah, failed to realize his potential as a soldier, focusing instead on his bending of Dahl's strict rules rather than his spectacular triumphs. Perhaps if they didn't focus on the negative so much Dahl and Sarah would have recognized his abilities and worth instead of feeling that he was a liability. If they had he was sure he would not have been discharged without so much as a warning and his wife wouldn't have ended things the way she did.

"But that's what you get for marrying your commanding officer," he muttered to himself as he wiped some sweat from his tanned face, the golden tone making his sandy brown hair appear lighter than what it actually was. Sarah would have thought he looked good; she always liked him with a tan. But that was a different life filled with structure and boundaries. He didn't have to worry about a commanding officer or a wife anymore and after a few jobs as a hired gun he was more than happy for it. Mercenary work gave him the freedom to show off his skills while making enough cash for him to live comfortably if he wanted to.

Yet even with the amounts of money he was making he was secretly glad when he found Pandora. It was so different than any world he had ever been to. It had been partially developed by Dahl who spent billions on mining the mineral-rich planet, creating small settlements that dotted the otherwise wild and untouched landscape. Perhaps if things had played out differently Pandora would have become a newer version of Eden-5 or Themis. Perhaps it would have been filled with manmade biomes to break up the deserts and arid plains while towering cities would begin to sprawl across the mountains and valleys. But that never happened, leaving Pandora and its residents to live in a frontier-like place without the benefits that came with large cities and a huge population. There was no judicial system or really even a police force to maintain some semblance of order. The majority of the planet was dominated by crime and gunfire, giving ample opportunity to a hired gun for all sorts of diverse jobs.

"I'll have to remember to send a thank you to Dahl for leaving Pandora," he chuckled to himself as he thought of his last job he took for Sheriff Youngblood. He had let himself get captured by a band of what had once been convicts at a prison for the criminally insane that is until Dahl had bought their prison sentence order to have free labor in their mines. It was smart business for the corporation and helped with overcrowding in jails, prisons, and workhouses. Besides, no one really ever complained about the violation of human rights when it came to rapists and murderers.

It was the same story for most of the bandits that now populated Pandora. They all were chosen to work off their prison sentence for Dahl and were thoughtlessly abandoned on the planet when the massive corporation decided to abandon their assets on the planet with the Crimson Lance's urging. You couldn't move from one settlement to the next without running into some former steroid junkie bruiser or the genetically enhanced goliaths that organized crime on planets like his own Hieronymous liked to use to act as guards. Even the more common criminals like marauding smugglers and low-level killers seemed to be in abundance around the planet, all rallying under the banner of some former prisoner that had the power and fear to lead their men.

But out of all the variety in criminals Pandora seemed to offer it was the psychopaths he liked the best. They were so _funny_ with some of the random shit they shouted. It was partially why he himself get captured on his last job and be brought before the stupid and arrogant J-Dog. They were so easy to manipulate and toy with, making what would have been just a mundane shoot-'em-up sort of job into a bit of a game. Still, it J-Dog had been no genius and most of his followers lacked the mental capacity to really think much beyond whatever it was they were doing in that moment. It had been easy to manipulate the bandits and kill them so that he could earn his bounty; too easy, actually. It was the reason Axton had decided to quit his well-paying job as a bounty hunter and follow what could promise to be quite the adventure. It had all led him to where he was now, waiting for a train that promised fame, fortune, and glory as a Vault Hunter. And it had really taken very little effort. All he had to do was find a local Hyperion outpost, sign a few papers, and then make his way to a secluded train station and he was on his way to be a Vault Hunter.

"If only this damn train would hurry up," he muttered to himself for what felt like the hundredth time in the last two days as he looked down the empty line that disappeared behind a dusty hill. Nothing had changed from the first time he looked, or at least that was how it seemed. But then something caught his eye. It was nothing more than a dark blob on the horizon that he couldn't remember having seen before. "That can't be the train," he muttered to himself as he pulled out his assault rifle and put the scope up to his eye.

"Well I'll be damned," he smiled as he focused in on the blob to reveal what could only be a woman. She was still to far away to see the specifics, but by the way she seemed glide across the dusty landscape with that sway particular to females left little else that the blob could be. "Finally something to liven this place up!"

Pressing his eye closer to his scope he followed the woman's movements, happy that he was not going to be waiting alone on the stupid little platform in the middle of nowhere. It had been two days since a Hyperion representative had answered his inquiry to become a Vault Hunter with little more detail than where to wait for the train that would take him to the center of their operations. After a long and dull walk through the dusty plains he had hoped that there would be someone there to meet him. Hyperion, another Vault Hunter, even a bandit clan would have been welcomed. But the platform was deserted and Hyperion hadn't ECHOed him back to confirm he was in the right place. So he had waited, completely alone and bored out of his mind. A woman was just the thing he needed to liven up his wait.

For the next hour he sat with his eye practically glued to the scope of the weapon that was his current favorite. Slowly the dark blur in the distance focused into a set of rounded hips, a thin waist, and perky breasts all set under what appeared to be short, bright blue hair. His smile only grew once she sauntered closer, carelessly throwing what appeared to be a ratty old jacked over her shoulder with an attitude that he could easily imagine being used in many more _recreational_ ways. "This one has spunk. Not quite like you, honey," he chuckled, patting the small mechanical box that contained his turret. "But she still has some spunk."

Putting down his scope, he leaned back on the bench letting his gun rest across his lap. He waited as if he didn't see her, his smile playing across the stubble that had grown on his cheeks. It wasn't until he could hear her steps, slow and cautious, that he finally turned towards her and flashed her his brightest smile.

"Hello there!"

The woman gave him a long look, her hand holding her pistol at an angle in front of her just waiting for a reason to be raised and fired. Axton could understand her wariness, especially on a shithole planet like Pandora. In fact had Sarah been there with him she probably would have been giving him that disapproving look she was so good at for lounging around on a bench in the open like an idiot with a target on his head.

_She's not here,_ he told himself quickly, pushing the intruding thought from his mind. Focusing back on the woman, he felt his lips begin to move with the basic pleasantries of how great it was to have another _normal_ person around and how dull the endless heat was while his eyes discreetly moved up and down her body that was showcased in a tight little yellow number. She was small, both in height and in frame, but that didn't seem to stop her from jutting her chin with confidence that he would have expected from those stupid steroid-pumping crooks Dahl had shipped to Pandora. _Badass bruisers,_ he noted mentally as their little colloquial name popped into his head. The blue tattoos running down her left arm only added to the comical image of the small woman posing as a bruiser.

Again, shaking his wandering attention, he met the woman's steely eyes and kept them there. If there is one thing he knew about women is that they liked to be noticed but they did not like to be leered at. "So, I'm Axton, ex-military commando, badass, man about town. Do you have a name?"

"Yes."

"Oh, that's good, glad to hear it. And what might that be?"

The woman gave him a narrow look, as if trying to determine what he was after beyond her name. "Maya."

"You here for the Vault too, Maya?"

"Maybe."

"If you are then we work for the same people and are playing for the same team" he pushed, giving her one of his lopsided grins that used to soften even Sarah when she was in one of her moods.

Maya gave him a long, hard look before her expression seemed to thaw and her shoulders relax a little. "I suppose you're right."

"Of course I am! If there's one thing you learn from being in the military is which team your fighting for and who your teammates are," he smiled despite his mind briefly flashing to Sarah's stern but playful face. Reaching up, he felt her dog tags and her diamond wedding ring that rested safely under his shirt on their metal chain. Though the sting had diminished since his dishonorable discharge, he couldn't help but feel the irony in his talking about teammates and enemies considering how easily they seemed to change. At least with Sarah that had changed.

"I've never been on a team before," Maya answered with an embarrassed chuckle. "At least not on one I got to choose."

"Ha, well that's not too different from the military then. If you met some of the guys I had to work with…Well, let's just say some were as colorful as the local bandits this planet seems to have."

"I don't see how that is possible. Have you seen some of these guys?" she asked, her dry and direct way of speaking taking him slightly off guard. Despite her confidence, he had expected her to sound dainty with a high-pitched, sing-songy voice. It only made his smile grow as he felt the thrill of something unexpected.

"Seen my fair share of the Dahl rejects and ex-cons since coming here."

"Even the midgets?" she asked, raising an eyebrow. "You can't have seen the midgets if you're acting like there is nothing odd about the bandits here."

"Yeah, I don't know what planet had an outbreak of dwarves. And why so many of them ended up in prisons for the criminally insane."

"They probably came Aquator. From what I heard seems everyone is related to everyone else."

"I was thinking more Dionysus. They have a reputation for liking weird substances. Wouldn't be surprised if there was a fad of some drug that could lead to an outbreak of midget babies."

She let out a little laugh, her smile lighting her face in a way that made Axton remember how long it had been since he had had the pleasure of feminine company. "That actually seems pretty likely."

Axton let another smile beam out at her as he scooped up his leather jacket from the bench and motioned for her to sit. "Well, so long as Hyperion doesn't do what Dahl did and buy a bunch of criminals to do its dirty work I think this will be a good job."

Maya only hesitated for a moment, her face returning to hard caution for a moment before she dropped down on the bench. "One can hope."

"This Vault business seems pretty exciting, huh?"

"Yes, very."

"You hear a radio ad about it too?"

"A radio ad? No."

"Ah, well that's where I heard about it," Axton said with a shrug as he leaned back further on the bench, stretching out his legs. "If I believed in fate I would say it was a sign. I was just starting to get tired of doing stupid bounties for bandits here when all of a sudden the radio started talking about the Vault and the money and challenge of it all. Not sure what sounded better the money or the fame."

"I suppose money and fame would be pretty enticing for you mercenary types."

"You mercenary types?" He asked with mock shock, his hands covering his heart in an exaggerated motion. "You wound me! I was more like a law enforcement team for hire."

"Sure you were," Maya said with a smile, her dry tone holding a hint of joking in it. "Very expensive law enforcement maybe."

"You've got to pay for the best!"

"What makes you so confident you're the best?"

"Are you doubting my obvious skills?" he asked, sitting up straighter as his smile grew.

"Obvious?" she asked, her mouth moving into a half smile that made her eyes have a mischievous glint to them. It was the kind of glint that Axton could easily picture her giving him in a darkened bedroom over a little bit of obvious innuendo. It made him again think about just how long it had been since he had the company of a woman.

"Well, I do have a rather big gun," he said with a wink, unable to resist the path his mind was taking him.

"I don't think your _big gun_ would be any match for me," she answered, glancing down to his lap where his rifle still lay.

"Oh you thought I was talking about this old thing?" he asked, lifting up the gun and giving it a skeptical look. "Nah, this isn't my _big gun_. I keep that beautiful little honey tucked away until I'm ready to use her," he finished patting the metal pack that was attached to his belt.

"You don't say."

"The missus here has taken down half an regiment on her own. She hasn't met her match yet," he said with a smile, dropping the insinuation to sing the praises of one of his most prized possessions; a versatile Dahl special-issue turret that he had outfitted to be more powerful and deadly than his superiors ever intended it to be. Sarah had called it showboating and putting his own ego in front of the safety of his regiment. He preferred to think of his turret as the only thing in the unit that could actually keep up with him.

"Then you're lucky we're on the same team."

"Oh? So you've seen a lot of action?"

"I wasn't in an army or anything, but I've trained hard for twenty-seven years. A gun like yours wouldn't prove to be that much of an obstacle."

"Big words for someone who still hasn't said a word about actual combat," Axton replied with a smile that didn't quite reach his eyes. He had a bond with his turret that rivaled the bond of a man and his dog. It was a reliable companion that protected him in some pretty awful situations and had saved his life numerous times. He was protective of his weapon, seeing it more as an extension of himself than just a piece of equipment. "I've seen veterans fall to my little lady here. Veterans with a lot more than twenty-seven years of training and experiencing fighting."

"Yes, but they're just men."

"And you're not?"

"No, I'm a woman," she said with a smile.

"Ha ha ha," he mocked, rolling his eyes. "Guess we'll just have to wait until we get to this Vault. We'll see how funny you think you are when I have to save your ass with my girl."

"That scenario does not seem very likely," she answered with a sly smile before turning back to the empty rail line.

Axton let out a small laugh, but didn't answer. He had to imagine Maya was good if Hyperion took her on, but it was clear she had not been a member of a regiment or even part of a smaller mercenary company. She was green. He could see it in the way she sat, rigid as if waiting for some sort of attack. Sure, Pandora was a rough planet, but he had seen enough action in his life to know that they were in the most ideal spot to wait for hours for a train. It was an open landscape so no one could sneak up on them, making the only real threat a sniper attack. _And these bandits aren't known for their snipping, _he smiled as he sunk lower on the bench, feeling completely comfortable.

Giving her a sidelong glance he waited to see if she would relax, but it seemed as though her body was held up by a set of iron rods. Her back stayed straight and her face grim as she waited for some sort of attack to come. He had seen something similar on hundreds of new recruits all determined to perform well but all afraid of what was to come. There were times when he thought some of them might crack, their own apprehensions and fears breaking their minds before they even saw real combat. Hoping to ease some of her tension he started a new line of conversation, one far away from combat experience and killing. "Do you think Hyperion will have other people we'll be working with?"

"I don't know. I have to imagine that there will be teams of people helping to locate this Vault. I know the last one they found was very well hidden."

"Really? I don't know much about the other Vault, truth be told."

"That's because you answered a radio ad," Maya answered with a mischievous smile. "Not a lot of research necessary."

"Nope. But I've found that sometimes knowing less is better," he answered, smiling despite her little jab. He couldn't help but notice the way her silvery eyes seemed to shine when she actually smiled. There was something intoxicating about them that was so different than Sarah's warm brown eyes. It was difficult to look away.

"I've found the opposite to be true." Her tone was casual, but immediately her jaw clenched and her eyes grew hard.

_Not the topic I was looking for, obviously_, he thought as he tried to find something that the enigmatic woman would respond to without the conversation returning them to a stiff silence. "It's getting cooler," he ventured, turning his gaze towards the darkening sky. "Going to be a cold one tonight."

"They're all cold," Maya answered with a snort. "I'm glad I brought this old coat otherwise I would have probably froze my first night here."

"The desert can be deceiving like that. I remember this mission I was on back when I was in the Dahl military. We were on Promethea which, is nothing more than one giant flat desert. During the day you could fry an egg on anything left out in the sun, but at night…well, the nights were even worse. It would get so cold that you would have thought you were naked in the snow. Pandora isn't that bad, but its not fun being without some shelter at night, that's for sure."

"That and the skags seem to get more active."

"Better skags than those damn rakks. Or even the spiderants. I hate those things. It makes me miss normal animals like rats and skunks."

"And cats," Maya replied with a large smile, her eyes growing excited.

"You a cat kinda girl?"

"Well I've never had one, but there was this one cat where I use to live that would always creep around outside at night and yowl at things. She was white with brown and orange spots and looked so cute and – what's that?"

"What?" he asked, looking around for whatever had caught Maya's attention.

"I think something is coming," she said as she stood and pulled on her coat to keep out the cool wind that had started to blow. "Can you see it out there to the west?"

Following her gaze he made out a tiny white light on the horizon. "Hang on, let me see," he muttered as he pulled out his assault rifle and looked through the scope.

"What is it?"

Lowering his gun, he turned to her with a large smile filling his face. "The train is finally here."

* * *

Zer0 watched from a dark corner of the train that was piled high with large crates as a man and a woman got on, adding to the already crowded car. The stocky Truxican and redheaded girl were loud enough in their pointless banter that he had wondered more than a few times if anyone would notice if he shot them. In the end, he decided such a course would not be prudent considering he had yet to learn the details of this Vault that he was promised would be the challenge of a lifetime. If it was anything like what was reported to be in the last Vault that was open he knew he would at the very least be facing a creature that had already outlived him by millennia, if not longer. Some of the files he had read even referred to the monster as a _god_. It was the sort of opponent he had been waiting for.

Still, no matter how much he anticipated the creature that could be lurking in the yet undiscovered and unopened Vault he could not help but think that everything leading him to this point had been too easy, especially when a large corporation like Hyperion was involved. Clearly the company was very interested in these Vaults, enough so that they were collecting people who were not typically connected with them like the one-armed redheaded girl, the crass Truxican, and whomever the two new comers on the train were. In his experience it meant that Hyperion did not want everyone throughout universe to know its interest in the fabled caches and they would probably terminate the treasure hunters they hired once the job was done. Yet when he had hacked into their database the reports he sought was barely guarded by the normal security measures he typically encountered with large corporations. It was almost as if the information he desired most was placed into a neat little file and left carelessly for him to find. It was just _too_ easy for him to feel that no one was aware of his presence on the train carrying the recruited _Vault Hunters_, as Hyperion liked to call them.

_Perhaps they hope someone will try for the Vault on their own so that they can clear the path without having to pay them for the work_. The thought seemed logical enough. In fact he had seen other corporations, such as Dahl, use whatever free labor they could find in order to maximize profits. Why wouldn't a large corporation let a few adventure seekers try for the Vault on their own knowing that many would die before ever finding it? It would save them the time and money of making the missteps of those individuals. The more he thought about it the more he began to believe it to be true. There was very little chance that Hyperion was blind to where he was and what he was after.

_And so they will watch, like vultures that wait for scraps, but I leave nothing._

He smiled a little to himself at how he would disrupt the giant corporation's plan. He was no ordinary adventurer or treasure hunter and he would not let someone take his prize from him.

"You all here for the vault?" the newest male on the train asked in a loud, cocky sort of voice that pulled the assassin from his thoughts. Turning his attention to the newcomers he began to note their characteristics, registering them so that he could make a determination if any were a threat or a challenge to his goal of reaching the Vault. Focusing in on the sandy haired man, he quickly decided that he was no different than many of his targets; brashly confident with a belief in their own invincibility after surviving situations most humans were unable to due to their slow reflexes or erratic behavior due to their fear. This man clearly thought himself a skilled master through the way he stood looking down on the others on the car. He was the type of man that Zer0 always loved killing with his sword. It was satisfying to see their acknowledgement in their own insignificance as his blade slid through their bodies with little effort.

"You got it, amigo!" the Truxican laughed, holding out his hand to the new man. "Salvador."

"Axton," the man said with his annoyingly cocky smile. "Who's your friend?"

"I'm Gaige," the redheaded girl answered, holding out a mechanical arm for the customary handshake. The man who called himself Axton gave her a skeptical look before quickly touching her metal hand and pulling it back.

"And I'm Maya," the blue-haired woman finally spoke, reaching out her gloved hand to the girl and the Truxican in suit. Zer0 observed the formalities with the air of a scientist observing the interactions of a wild beast in its natural habitat. Like most primates, humans had very predictable social structures that were important to acknowledge. Over the course of years he had come to understand that often an alpha male would establish his presence and those around him would fall into a small hierarchy based on sex, skill, and aggression. Men generally were higher on the hierarchy than women and they would act as the leaders with the others following. So it came as no surprise when the two men immediately began a contest of words, bragging of insignificant _triumphs_ and various _achievements_ they had earned. It was no different than two male chimpanzees physically fighting to determine which was superior.

_The new male will be alpha,_ he decided after a few moments of watching the pair. The Truxican, although thick and strong, clearly did not have the mental capacity of the other man. As with everything with humans, the outcome was predictable. _Perhaps that is the reason why they provide me with no challenge,_ he thought for a moment. _They are weak and predictable._

The women were no different. They too immediately began an obvious conversation where questions were asked only to ascertain who was the alpha female between them, although their methods were often better disguised than the direct line of questioning the males used. Still, without even bothering to listen to their mundane conversation Zer0 immediately picked the blue-haired woman as dominant. She clearly was older than the redhead, who appeared little more than a girl, and would have the advantage of experience. Besides that, the alpha male already appeared interested in the woman if he had any ability to guess at the man's repeated stares at her. Often in primate societies the alpha male's attention elevated the female's status in the group with only a few exceptions.

_But these humans are the rule, not the exception_, he noted blandly as his predictions slowly began to play out. The newer male soon dominated the conversation with the Truxican, drawing in the two females. The blue-haired woman was able to speak uninterrupted when she chose while the redheaded girl often was ignored. The social order was established and there was little chance of it changing. Humans, if anything, thrived in the comfort of predictable routines and fell into chaos when the accepted order was disrupted.

Zer0 felt a small smile creep across his lips as he thought of the chaos he had caused with a well placed bullet on some of his political assassinations. The humans who vainly thought themselves above the laws of nature would immediately fall into a frenzy of fear, looking more like ants running from their ruined hill rather than the gods they thought themselves to be. The same happened when his target was a mafia head or a bandit leader. It didn't matter the nature of the social system, all that mattered was that the members to the system depended on the expected hierarchy and when that hierarchy was disrupted they would play victim to panic. _This group is no different. Remove the leader and they would fall to chaos and be easy to eliminate._

Turning his attention back to the group he watched the movements of the alpha, carefully searching for patterns in the man's gait or gestures that could be used against him should the Vault Hunters interfere in his search for the Vault. _He is right handed and leads with his right leg. He prefers assault rifles too large for his body, forcing him to lock his stance. He would be slow to turn to his right if he were attacked from that side. He is overconfident and impatient. He is an easy target_.

Next, he watched the Truxican, ignoring the man's loud laugh and boisterous behavior as he began to note small traits that linked him to the culture of Pandora. _He is native born,_ Zer0 realized as he watched the short brute stroll about the car with the casual bobbing gait unique to the bandits on the planet. It was almost a swaying rhythm, as if those that were connected to Pandora were responding to some sort of magnetic pull. In all his years of traveling throughout the universe he had never observed a gait pattern quite like it. It was exclusively Pandora.

_And if he is a native son he will shoot erratically at whatever moves first, _he thought with a bit of disappointment. The Truxican would not have been trained to do anything different and had probably only survived for as long as he did due to the two shotguns he carried on his back having a decent scatter radius. _He is no challenge_.

Zer0 pushed aside the growing sense of disappointment at the small group Hyperion had hired. He felt that it was logical for the corporation to attempt to hire those best skilled to seek out their prize, but the two males did little to excite his sense of a challenge. If they were no match for him how could they ever hope to defeat a creature labeled as a god? _Yet humans found and defeated the last creature. Either they are more skilled than I can detect or the creatures in the Vaults are not as great of an opponent as they are rumored to be._ It was a troubling thought, but he would not stop in his quest based on his own assumptions and reasoning. There was enough in the files he had read that enticed him to face the creature and test his worth. There was nothing that would change his course of action now.

Turning his thoughts back to the present, he decided to finish his evaluation of his _competitors_, if they could even be called that. He focused on the alpha female, watching her for a few minutes from the cover of darkness. She had a stern expression and the sharp eyes of an observer, he noted, but she clearly was uncomfortable with the group. Her hands kept fidgeting with the hem of her worn coat and her breathing was interrupted by small sighs. It was unexpected as she gave off the impression of confident indifference towards the conversations happening around her. _But will her discomfort with her fellows affect how well she is able to defend herself?_

He continued to watch her, trying to get a sense how she would responded to an attack when she shifted slightly so that her left hand became visible from under her jacket. Immediately, Zer0 stood up straighter, his eyes peering through his mask at the blue swirling patterns that moved up her hand only to be hidden under her coat. To the human eye they may appear to be nothing more than ink, but to him they seemed radiate energy. It was as if the woman's small body couldn't contain the power that was inside of her, forcing it to burst out of her skin in the form of the swirling patterns.

_She is a Siren. Now that is interesting_.

It had been years since he had come into contact with one of the strange anomalies that the humans had labeled with the name of the mythical creatures known for their power to lure men to their deaths. There had been a period in his long life where he had been fascinated by the creatures, thinking of them as a glimpse of the next major leap in human evolution. In time he found this not to be the case. Sirens were nothing more than an odd expression of some sort of genetic mutation that most likely was attached to the x-chromosome considering that all known cases of the abnormality were found in women. And not very many women at that, making him believe that the mutation had to be unstable enough that only a few strong embryos were even able to survive the gestational period. Originally he had reasoned that those that survived long enough to be with the disorder could potentially be more powerful and better adapted to survive than the non-mutated humans and therefore would be closer to equaling him than any other creature he had met in the dull and unchallenging universe. Unfortunately, in this he had been wrong.

As the train lurched forward he let his mind play back his memories from the last Siren he had encountered. She, like the others, had the markings on half of her body. The blue lines were an intriguing part of the disorder, marking the women in a dermatomal pattern much like the rash in a patient with shingles. It led him to assume that the mutation affected the spinal cord, allowing the women to somehow tap into the raw energy of their nerves and cells to expel it in various ways outside of their body. The last Siren he had met had been able use her odd power to push energy into the bodies of her enemies, causing their cells to become so over excited that the person suffered severe and widespread cellular death. It was quite a spectacular trait, one that even he would find useful had it been stable. But from what he had observed Sirens died young of seemingly natural causes. He could only hypothesize that the mutation itself shortened their lifespan or the raw energy they were to be able to use eventually damaged their own cells enough that life was no longer viable. Either way it made their existence short and therefore insignificant.

_Insignificant and dangerous, like an agitated killer bee_, he thought as he watched the Siren's rigid body slowly relax as she conversed with the other Vault Hunters. He was not blind to the power she could unleash and the difficulty it might present him should a meeting between them ever occur, even if overall she was inferior to him like all humans he had met. He would have to be diligent around her as he would be diligent around a hissing cobra. She, like the cobra, was no real threat to him unless he grew careless and allowed her a chance to strike. But he was not careless. There were five dead Sirens over the course of his lengthy career that could attest to that fact. In the end, she and the other Vault Hunters would be no great challenge when the time came for him to eliminate the competition seeking the challenge of the Vault.

His thoughts were cut short by a sudden loud sigh that silenced the conversations that floated around the train car. "How long until you think we're wherever we're going?" the redheaded girl whined loudly, forcing the attention of her three companions who had nearly forgotten she was there to focus on her and not push her to the side.

It was clear the alpha male found her to be a wasted companion by the impatient look he gave her. _Most likely due to her age_, the assassin thought, noting the man's quick judgment that completely disregarded the girl's above average mind. It was true that the redhead had no obvious experience fighting nor did she even have years of life experience to help her adapt to new situations, but from the little bits of her life Zer0 had overheard her telling the Truxican it was clear she could create something deadly. _She is no immediate threat unless she is given time and the resources to create_.

"Who knows, amiga," the Truxican said with a shrug. "But I am tired! I think I'm going to get some sleep."

"That's a good idea," the alpha answered, giving the group a long look. "We all should get some sleep. Who knows what Hyperion will have us doing once we get to wherever this Vault is."

"Should we have watches?" the Siren asked, her tone direct and commanding.

The alpha male looked around and smiled. "I don't think we have to worry about bandits in a closed train car, do you?"

"I suppose not."

"Let's all just try to get some sleep. Hopefully we'll be there by morning."

Zer0 smiled to himself as the four Vault Hunters settled in against the walls of the dark train car, oblivious to his presence. They were like lambs, huddled together for warmth completely unaware of the wolf stalking them in the darkness. It would be easy to kill them by silently slipping his blade through their throats one by one. _Not yet, _he told himself as he unconsciously let his hand drift to the hilt of his digistruct sword. _I will need the information Hyperion will give them_. _Then I can eliminate my competitors._

Leaning back against his dark corner he watched over the sleeping mercenaries, smiling at their weak bodies that needed rest so frequently. He would not need true sleep for some time. Instead, he would meditate, energizing his body for the task that was ahead of him and the numerous insignificant creatures he knew he would have to eliminate to reach his goal. _The Vault is my challenge and mine alone,_ he told himself as he watched the alpha male's deep, regular breaths. _I will not allow any Vault Hunters to get in my way_.


	4. The Catalyst

AN: Well ladies and gentleman we have reached game content. I have to admit that this got a lot longer than even I had anticipated, so much so that I decided not to have Liar's Berg in this chapter like I had originally planned. Also, Zer0's POV is much shorter than I think it ever will be again. I just got on a roll with the train scene and it didn't seem right to switch it up. But I do apologize for those that find longer chapters a bit much to read on a fanfiction site. Also, I'm trying to write each POV in a style that fits the character. So this chapter is probably the first oddball since Gaige is well…Gaige.

Please let me know if anyone seems out of character. I have my own ideas about all these characters (some of which I have not played in the game much), which may make some people raise an eyebrow. Hopefully I got them right, but I'm sure you all will let me know if I don't (or at least I hope you will).

And wow the reviews! Thank you so much! Everyone with accounts should have gotten a pm response, so if I missed you I'm sorry. For those without:

Update: As you wish…

Guest 1/19 – You two sound like my cousin and her fiancé I have not done a team that has had both characters so I love that you told me that. The way I have it written now, his faceplate is his only way to have non-verbal communication and it's only when he's feeling a very strong emotion that they come out (I'll explain more probably about it later on too), so who knows what might happen chapters down the road.

AlienPerv – Not sure about Elvis, but I think your run down is very accurate.

Guest (from last review) – Well I can't tell now! Though I would like to point out that the Guardians from BL1 are a bit ambiguous in that it is never stated if they are the Eridians or if they are a creature/cyborg/genetically mutated thing created by Eridians. If you go with the first theory Zer0 would definitely not fit body wise. If you go with the second theory, well there would have to be some similarities between the Guardians and the Eridians since we tend to create things in our likeness/organisms from the same planet/ecosystem/class have many biological and physiological similarities... But us talking about this also does confirm or deny that I'm going with either of those theories…so just read on (like ten chapters on, probably).

Ant Hill – you took the time to review you deserve a response and a thank you! I think the answer to your question is in this chapter. Like you said, Gaige is not in the footage so I went with what I thought would be logical for a teenage girl on a new planet with no real history of combat. Also, I did stray a bit since the intro makes Zer0 seem like he's buddies with everyone else on the train. And your comment about Axton will be answered here too.

Guest 1/17 – Glad you like it and I hope that in what should have been part of this chapter but will now be the next chapter doesn't disappoint.

So that's it. Long authors note, sorry. Happy reading and reviewing :)

* * *

_**Chapter 4**_

* * *

_It is all right for the lion and the lamb to lie down together if they are both asleep, but if one of them begins to get active, it is dangerous._

_~Crystal Eastman, US Attorney_

* * *

Gaige decided she hated sleeping on trains almost as much as she hated going to sleepovers. Not that she had been invited to many and the few that she had usually were because _everybody_ was invited. Her dad had thought that it was good for her to socialize more and spend less time building things. Thankfully he realized early on that what she needed wasn't more socialization with her _peers_, as if there were any, but a bigger workshop and more tools so that she could destroy her competition at the various fairs her school held throughout the year. Of course her crowning achievement would have been winning the science fair this past year but that bitch Marcy had stolen her project plans.

_But my badass robot took care of her,_ she thought with a smile as the train continued its breakneck course across Pandora. She was surprised they hadn't reached their destination yet considering how fast the train was traveling the amount of time they had spent on it. By her calculations, assuming that her approximations of their speed were correct, they had traveled a minimum of four thousand miles in the bare steel train car. There was no food, water, or even windows to distract them from the monotony of the ride. It was _so boring_.

"I don't know why they didn't just let us use the digistruct network," she grumbled to herself as her high levels of energy made it difficult for her to sit still and do nothing. Every planet had a form of a digistruct network, making travel quick and painless. It was probably one of the coolest pieces of technology that wasn't her giant Deathtrap robot, or DT as she liked to call him. Especially now that some of Hyperion's engineers figured out how to reduce the frequency of mutations and other accidents that sometimes occurred with reconstruction. It was safer than ever and so much _easier_ than the old-fashion way of traveling. She just couldn't understand the idiots that feared the technology and hated using it. She assumed that some of those idiots were probably the reason why they were forced to ride on a stupid train for literally _hours_ or that Hyperion wanted all of the Vault Hunters to do something lame, like teambuilding.

_Some team,_ she thought bitterly, finding herself once again pushed to the side and underrated. Salvador had at least been nice the entire time, but that Maya chick already was getting on her nerves with her stupid blue hair and little flirty smiles. Of course Axton would only pay attention to that sort of woman and completely ignore her and what she had to offer the team. Not that she really cared. Sure, Axton was attractive in that action movie star sort of way, but he was nothing more than a bossy know-it-all that had no clue who he was even dealing with. _I mean, come on!_ She seethed again to herself, watching how Axton seemed to follow Maya's every move with his eyes, a small smile tugging at his lips. _Can't they see I'm a genius? _

She thought that her incredibly high IQ was obvious, making her presence among them logical instead of some sort of stupid joke they thought Hyperion was playing. Gaige just couldn't comprehend why these people couldn't they see that she wasn't just a scrawny teenager with no brains or skills, like that bitch, Marcy. _I mean, come on! I built myself a freakin' robot arm one-handed!_

She would show them, though, just like how she had shown everyone at the science fair. _Well, maybe not quite like that,_ she admitted. She didn't want to _kill_ her teammates or destroy wherever it was that they were going, but she did want to show them that she could contribute. Why else would Hyperion have sent her that ECHO asking her to join in as a Vault Hunter? They at least knew she could take care of herself.

Watching her companions from the hunk of wall that she had claimed as her own, she felt the same sour mood that the others seemed to be suffering from. None of the adventures looked like they were happy about still being on the train, cooped up like livestock. Actually, when Gaige thought about it, the train really did resemble some of the trains used haul cattle from farm to farm or to take crates from a warehouse to a store. _You would think Hyperion could shell out a little cash for chairs at least,_ she grumbled as it seemed that they would _never_ reach their destination. She began to wonder just where Hyperion was taking them to begin their hunt for the Vault. The man that had recruited her said something about it being hidden and difficult to reach, but she hadn't imagined that it was so far away. Not for the first time she wished that they just had been able to use the digistruck network.

Just as she felt that she was going to die of boredom a loud crunching noise of gears turning thundered around them while the train car began to rumble and shake. Carefully, she rose to her feet as another set of loud thuds thundered over their heads. Looking to the others, she saw that they were just as confused as she was, if not even more. Salvador's large grin was nowhere to be seen while Maya's face looked drawn and nervous. Even Axton, the man Gaige assumed was unshakable from all his talk about his time as a soldier with Dahl, was tense and had a worried look.

"What was that?" he asked as the mechanical sound continued, the train car jolting unexpectedly every few seconds.

Maya cautiously moved towards the front of the car. "I don't know," she started when a bright yellow banner suddenly fluttered down in front of her.

"What the hell…" Axton muttered, reading the words aloud. "Welcome Vault Hunters."

"Well that's nice," Gaige snorted, her racing heart slowing as disappointment filled her. "You would think after seventeen hours on a train they would at least give us some sandwiches or something."

Axton opened his mouth, his stern expression reminding her of her history professor that loved to just go on and on about the ancient Earth humans and their primitive societies and technology. He had never been very pleased with her since she always brought up how dumb it was that the Earth humans hadn't figured out sustainable space travel long before they did. He would always give her a thin-lipped frown before lecturing her on how things that seemed obvious today were not back then and blah blah blah. She was sure that Axton would go on some tirade about her being disrespectful and how when he was in the army they would have to eat bugs and survive by drinking their filtered sweat and urine, or some other lame story to tell her she shouldn't complain so much. Yet just as he opened his mouth to say something the entire train shook violently as a deep, loud rumble made it impossible to hear what anyone was saying.

She reached out for the wall, steadying herself as the shaking car threatened to throw her to the ground as the front wall of the car somehow became unhinged and fell to the ground just as the rumbling was replaced by the familiar noise of something digistructing rang out around them. Suddenly rows of blue and white digital grids appeared in the open space that had once been concealed by the false wall, the forms of massive yellow robots with guns for arms materializing in front of them. Her heart begin to beat wildly in her chest as the train seemed to lurch, a crunching noise adding to the already bizarre mix of sounds that could mean nothing good just as another banner dropped down from the ceiling, the red coloring making the words _To Your Doom_ feel like nothing less than an immediate reality as the robot loaders raised their guns and began to fire.

Gaige felt herself freeze against the wall, unable to process what was happening her around her. They were on a train controlled by Hyperion, the company that hired them. She couldn't understand why there was gunfire and whom it was directed towards. All she knew is that it didn't make any sense for Hyperion to be firing on them. It had to be some sort of mistake.

As her mind continued to cloud with the chaotic sound of gunfire, the mechanical voices of robots, and the metallic _ting_ of bullets ricocheting off the metal walls, she felt a surge of panic fill her. She watched numbly as Axton leaped into action, throwing out a small metal box that erupted into a huge turret. Somewhere in her mind she processed that his quick reflexes probably saved her life as a row of Hyperion robots began to open fire only a few feet from where she stood. But the horror of seeing the bullets flying by Maya who was standing near where the false wall had been did little to help her muscles move into action. Instead she was only able to stare wide-eyed as Salvador reached for his guns, focusing on a fresh line of yellow robots as a masked man dressed a grey and black suit seemed to melt out of the shadows, a lethal looking sniper rifle in his hands.

A scream felt trapped in her throat as the man slithered towards her, a bright blue flash making his tall slender body look like it was glowing. Gaige squeezed her eyes shut, hot tears burning her face as the deafening sound of metal being torn somewhere near her made her ears ring. "Help!" she cried out, unsure if anyone could hear her over the suddenly muffled noise.

Another cry escaped her lips, her ears feeling fuzzy and her throat raw as the train car shook violently again. She opened her eyes, smoke and dust making them burn before another blinding flash of bright blue light came from where Axton, Maya, and Salvador were fighting a pair of loaders. The masked man was turned towards them, his gun raised.

"Look out!" she heard herself shout as two men in yellow uniforms dropped down in front of her from a hatch in the ceiling. She felt her mouth open to scream again, but no words came out. It felt as though her erratically beating heart had jumped out of her chest and into her throat as the world slowed. The uniformed men had their guns out, pointed directly at her. Behind them the masked man had turned his attention towards her, the barrel of his rifle gliding closer to her head as he seemed to float towards her.

_Oh god, I'm going to die_, she realized as a cold sweat broke out over her shaking body, her limbs unwilling to move as panic claimed her muscles and the bright flashes of blue light dazzled her muffled senses. Squeezing her eyes shut knowing that her short life was about to end, she could barely made out two muffled booms followed by nothing. The searing pain she had expected never came, nor did the rush of warm liquid slipping out of her body. _I'm alive?_ she asked, hesitating for a moment before she dared peek out. Her head felt light and dizzy as she tried to blink away the floating spots that partially blocked her vision while her ears continued to ring, but even so she was able to see that the two uniformed men were dead. Blood was pooling around their heads, coloring the metal floor a deep red that made her stomach turn slightly.

Looking up from the corpses, she just barely saw the legs of the mysterious man disappear up the hatch before another burst of light filled the train, the car rocking violently as a robot fell over just a few feet from her. She stared at the motionless metal as a few more shots rang out, taking in the immense firepower that it was equipped with. It was built for destruction and death that much was clear.

"I think that's all of them," a muffled voice called out, but she couldn't tell who's through the sharp ringing sound that just wouldn't stop. She looked around and saw that Axton had some blood dripping down his arm, but otherwise seemed okay. Maya looked disheveled, but healthy, and Salvador was limping slightly as they congregated in the middle of the car. Gaige knew she should probably join them, but she just couldn't seem to make her feet work. Instead she watched silently as Axton began to walk towards her, asking if she was all right when another grinding metallic noise broke through her damaged ears.

"What the name of Dios!" came a fuzzy sounding Salvador as the back wall of the car fell to the ground, revealing a robot with the likeness of Hyperion's president, Handsome Jack, and crates overflowing with dynamite.

The robot whirred to life as everyone stared in disbelief, its etched smile more mocking than dashing. For a moment nothing happened, the robot stared blankly at them as they all continued to look at it and its stockpile of dynamite. "It's cute that you all think you're the heroes of this little adventure," it started, its mechanical voice was loud enough that even she could hear it clear as day over the thick fuzz that had filled her head. "But you're not. Welcome to Pandora, kiddos."

"Get down!" Axton shouted as a set of high beeps filled the car. Gaige felt herself being pulled to the ground just as a massive force pushed into her body making even her organs move against the confines of her body. A stinging heat rip at her bare arms as a feeling of weightlessness filled her. It seemed like time had stopped a she floated in the air, a continuous series of booms bombarding her injured ears.

Then everything dropped. She felt her right side slam into something hard, her body making a sickening thud noise as she bounced and rolled, her arms and legs being shredded by something cold and piercing. She didn't even realize she was screaming until her body came to an abrupt and painful halt, the bitterly cold wind biting at her exposed skin.

She tried to open her eyes, but the world was nothing but spinning swirls of grey, white, and blue. Bile rose in her mouth as her muscles rebelled and cramped into a large retch, a pounding sensation pushing against her head with each heartbeat. It took a minute for her body to calm, the tears that had filled her eyes freezing against her face. Somewhere in the distance she could hear a muffled shout, but it was impossible to discern from where as her ears felt like they had been stuffed with little cotton balls. Reaching up to rub them she felt something warm and sticky covering her lobes and the side of her face. Pulling her fingers back she stared at the red liquid that covered them, her mind slowly processing that it was blood. _My blood,_ she thought as a scream tore through her throat.

Nothing made sense. Not a bit of it. The chaos on the train, the flashing lights and all the noises, she just couldn't process what had happened. It was so different than the chaos that had followed at the science fair when DT slashed Marcy to bits. It was even different than the bloodshed she witnessed when Salvador took care of the five bandits they met on the way to the train, leaving her nothing to compare it to. She was blinded and deaf and there was blood coming from somewhere on her head while her arms began to sting as large welts and blisters bubbled up from large burns. She rolled into a ball, guarding her arms from the agonizing bite of the wind.

"Gaige!" a voice called out from somewhere, but she couldn't bring herself to look up. She felt a hand rest on her shoulder, its thick warmth making her realize just how cold it was. "Gaige, are you all right? God, are you hurt?"

Slowly, she forced herself to try to focus on something other than the pain. She strained to pull out sounds from around her, making out a deep masculine voice followed by a higher, feminine one. _Maya,_ she thought as she slowly uncurled herself and blinked her eyes into focus. The blue-haired was giving her a concerned look while talking rapidly to Axton. She had blood coming from her forehead and her coat was shredded. Axton, too, had large tears in his clothes and there were dark splotches covering him. She knew it was blood, but couldn't tell if it was his own or from someone else.

"Here," Axton's voice broke through her damaged ears as he held out a red vial with a long needle sticking out of the end. Without warning, he thrust it into her thigh, injecting the liquid in one smooth motion.

"How's she doing?" Maya asked, her voice growing more crisp and distinct as Gaige felt her head begin to clear.

Axton kneeled down next to her, giving her a concerned look. "Just breathe deep and slow, let the medicine work to repair your cells."

She tried to listen to his words, taking long, shaking breaths as the pain in her arms began to subside and her sight cleared. She could hear Maya's boots crunch against the snow as she moved back towards the smoking, derailed train. Turning to the soldier, she swallowed a few times before finding her voice. "What happened?"

"We were duped," he answered quickly, checking on her arms and looking at the side of her head. "I'm just glad that we found you."

"Why? Who didn't you find?"

"Salva –" he started when Maya's voice rang out over the growing sounds of a fire burning and pieces of metal falling from the ruined train.

"He's here, Axton! We need a stim pack and fast!"

Without hesitation he jumped up and rushed towards the train as thick plumes of black smoke began to pour from a few of the cars. "Stay here," he shouted back at Gaige, as if she had any energy to sprint after him. Her body was a shaking mess as shock, cold, and the medicine tore through her cells, making it impossible to do anything but lay where she was and worry about the first person that had befriended her on the hellhole that was Pandora.

Salvador had been at the bar near where she had landed on the planet when she first met him. In fact, it was while they were talking that a man in a yellow uniform had approached them timidly, confirming who they were and that they in fact had been contacted about the Vault. She remembered how good the man made the whole project seem; an exceptional team known as Vault Hunters working with the resources of Hyperion to find what could easily hold some key piece of alien technology that would forever advance humanity. Gaige knew with those words that she would go, no matter what monster had been guarding the last Vault.

The Truxican had laughed away the talk of technology and helping the universe as a whole, but perked up with the words _filthy rich_. He had such a large, toothy grin as he accepted a spot on the train that would take them to where other Vault Hunters were gathering that Gaige couldn't help but smile too. It had seemed out of place on his stunted body that was covered with beefy muscles, but after spending some time with him she couldn't picture him without out the goofy smile. Salvador might not have been the type of friend her father wanted for her, but after it was clear they would be working together he had done nothing but treat her like an equal.

"Grab his legs!" Axton's voice called out in the distance as more and more smoke bellowed from the train and the smell of chemicals and burning filled the air. Gaige pulled herself up slowly, her head spinning a little as she watched her other two companions shuffled back towards her, Salvador lifted between them. Immediately she knew that he was badly hurt, probably the worse out of the three of them.

"What's wrong with him?" she asked as they approached, stifling a gasp as she saw her answer. "Oh my god."

Salvador's skin was little more than a deep red and pink slab of weeping burns and torn flesh over the right side of his body. Red and serous liquid covered his arms and face, giving it a sickening sheen as it oozed over oddly pointed joints and small bits of shrapnel imbedded in his skin. But it was the large, silver piece of metal sticking up from the left side of his chest that truly made her stare in horror. She watched as each of his labored breathes pushed blood out around the sides of the wound, staining the dull surface of the shard deep red.

"Set him here," Axton ordered, ignoring her reaction as he took a small pink vial from his jacket and pushed a small button so that a needle appeared. "Maya, you need to set the bones. Now."

She did as she was told, somehow ignoring the nauseating crunching noise of his shattered arm as she forced things back into their original position. Axton, watched her for a minute before he thrust the needle into the Truxican's thigh, immediately grabbing a second vial and repeating the process.

Gaige watched in wonder as her friend's skin seemed to re-grow at super speeds, fresh pink cells appearing over the ruined mess that had been there before. Even the lumpy flesh filled with torn muscle and pieces of bone seemed to take on a firmer appearance as fresh ligaments and tendons pulled the fractures into place with Maya's aid.

"This is my last one," Axton said, giving them a significant look.

"Should we pull out the hunk of metal?" Maya asked, her hands still guiding Salvador's humerus as the stim pack caused a frenzy of cellular growth and division in his broken body.

"This won't have enough juice to repair that," he answered gravely as Salvador began to show signs of returning consciousness. "If we pull it out he'll bleed out from the wound before it ever has a chance to be healed. We'll have to keep it in and hope that we find some sort of settlement soon with something more powerful and save this one for when he starts to fade again."

"What do you mean fade?" Gaige asked as Salvador let out a low cough, blood pushing against the metal as he fought to get enough air from his undamaged lung.

"Those first two stims will help him replenish the blood he lost and will try to repair some of the tissue around that wound, but eventually he'll bleed enough to counter act it. From the looks of it I would say he has a collapsed lung and probably severed his left pulmonary artery. He doesn't have much time."

Salvador coughed again, his eyes fluttering open. "Thanks for the good news, amigo," he wheezed out in a raspy voice.

"Good, you're awake. We've got to find you some more meds before we can take that metal piece out of you."

"Handsome Jack had better hope you don't find any," he finished with a cough, more blood escaping from around the shard in his chest.

"Don't talk. We're going to carry you as soon as we –"

His words were cut off by a loud crash coming from the train as a car seemed to collapse in on itself, thick plumes of black smoke pouring from the wreckage. A second crash rang out as flames began to shoot in the air.

"We need to move," Axton called out. "I think the train is going to blow."

"Wait," Maya replied, squinting into the smoke as the air seemed to get hotter around them. "Is that a man?"

Looking to where she was pointing, Gaige could barely make out a darkly dressed figuring moving from the smoke, a large gun in one hand. "It's him!" she whispered to herself, recognizing the mysterious masked man that had saved her life on the train. She watched him as he sprinted towards where they stood, the train's metal cars groaning as some essential piece of it gave out. The masked man ignored the sound as he reached where they stood just as a bright ball of yellow and orange flames rocketed into the sky with a deafening boom.

For a moment Gaige almost forgot everything that had happened as she watched the awesome explosion that sent pieces of the train rocketing into the air. She couldn't suppress a shout at what was way cooler than the lame firework shows they had on Eden-5. It was even better than the time she had accidently blew-up her father's tool shed. "This is _so sweet!_"

Another ball of hot yellow and orange light burst into the air, the black smoke coming out in thick streams. Axton was yelling something and Maya was pulling at her arm as she continued to stare at the exploding train, oblivious to the crashing debris around her. There was something about the awesome raw power of fire that excited and enthralled her. It was hypnotizing the way it could destroy things in an instant, engulfing it in its dancing embrace. She couldn't help but feel a strong pull deep within her to want more, to see more fire and watch the flames eat whatever was in its path.

"Gaige! Get down!" Maya shouted at her, pulling her from her entranced stare just as large piece of metal flew over their heads.

She let out a small grunt and fell to the wet snow behind a few icy pillars, resenting the older woman's firm grasp on her arm that kept her from popping back up to watch. A few more loud crashes rang out before the roaring of the explosions stopped and left only the sound of crackling flames consuming the last of the spilt fuel. "Can we get up now?"

"Yes, Gaige, we can get up," Maya answered with a sigh. "How's Salvador, Axton?"

"About as good as you can imagine."

Maya looked as if she was going to say something else when a deep, male grunt caused her to whip around. It was the masked man from the train, though his mask either had spider-like lines of snow stuck to it or it had been badly damaged in the crash. Gaige assumed the latter by how he seemed to favor his right leg while his left thigh was wrapped in what looked like shredded pieces of the yellow Hyperion uniform.

"Who the hell are you?"

The man didn't answer Maya. Instead he straightened, his hand moving towards his waist.

"Don't you move!" she commanded as Axton moved from where Salvador was lying, his gun raised. Again the man said nothing as he towered over them. His hand again went to his belt, this time pulling out a small narrow cylinder.

"Put down your weapon," Axton shouted as he pulled back the hammer of his pistol, his eyes narrowing as he aimed.

Once more the world seemed to slow as Gaige took in the scene, her mind quickly laying out the pieces of what was becoming yet another chaotic puzzle in a way that she could understand. Maya was shouting again, demanding to know who the man was. Axton yelled for him to drop whatever it was that was in his hand while the man made no motions to attack, follow the ex-sergeant's orders, or answer Maya's questions. Axton seemed to tense, his jaw tightening while his arms became straight and rigid. _He's going to shoot,_ she realized, a sense of dread filling her.

"Wait! He helped kill those soldiers!" she shouted at the ex-soldier, but he didn't seem to hear her. Instead, she watched in horror as his face became grim and his hand jerked back with the power of firing his bullet at the unarmed man. She barely had time to scream out _no_ before the projectile hit the man's chest dead in the center, entering his strange suit like it was butter.

Her heart pounded as a precious second or two slipped by, her eyes staring at the masked man, waiting for the blood to surge from his chest and his body to slump to the ground when suddenly he just disappeared.

"What the –" she barely started when a strangled shout came from Axton. Turning, she felt her mouth open at disbelief as the man had somehow appeared behind the former Dahl soldier, a bright blue digistruck sword _thing_ in his hand. _How the hell did he get there,_ she wondered as the man's arm wrapped around the soldier's body, his sword moving towards his neck. A pit filled her stomach as she knew what would come in the next few seconds. The masked man would kill Axton. He would simply have to pull his arm back to slice through her friend's throat and that would be that.

"No!" Maya shouted suddenly, a bright blue light bursting from around her. Gaige blinked away the blinding light, watching in wonder as a strange glowing orb surrounded the masked man and the former soldier. The stranger had his blue sword against Axton's throat, but his hand didn't move for the kill. Even Axton, who had his gun raised up and a look of shock on his face didn't move a muscle. It was as if they were frozen, locked in the odd force field that the blue haired woman created.

"Now everyone is going to listen," Maya shouted out, her voice shaking a little as sweat began to line her forehead. "I did _not_ sign up to be killed out here on a glacier and I am not going to let a bunch of hot tempers get me killed. Now I don't know who you are," she said, her steely eyes meeting the masked man, "but you had better explain yourself or I will put a bullet in your head."

Gaige watched for a tense moment, waiting to see what would happen, but the masked man said nothing. She could hear Salvador's wet cough from behind her, a small moan escaping from him. "Go check on him," Maya ordered her, barely glancing her way as she continued to extend the orb around the two men.

"But –" she started, getting a sharp look from the other woman that left no room for arguing.

Jogging to where Salvador lay, she gave him a quick look and patted his shoulder, knowing there was little she could do without some sort of tools and materials. "Hang in there, big guy."

"You're about as caring as a skag, amiga," the Truxican wheezed out before another coughing attack ripped through his body, making the narrow wound in his chest begin to bleed again.

She attempted to use his shirt to pack the spaces between the metal and his skin, giving him an apologetic look at his pained expression before turning back to where Maya was once more threatening to shoot the unknown addition to their little tundra party. The masked man continued with his silence though Axton was swearing up a storm.

"God damn it, Maya, shoot the bastard already."

"Last chance before I shoot," she shouted at the man.

"They're going to shoot him!" Gaige muttered in disbelief. She couldn't have been the only one to see him appear from the corner of the train car when the Hyperion robots started shooting. And if she was, she definitely couldn't have been the only person to see him take out a few of the douche bags that tried to kill them. "Wait, Maya!" she shouted, running back to where she stood.

"I've got this, Gaige. Go back to Salvador."

"No, you don't," she snapped, her frustration with the woman reaching its breaking point. "Hey you, freaky mask dude. Are you Hyperion?"

"Oh like he's going to answer to _freaky mask dude_," Maya grunted as she adjusted her stance. "Now go back to…" she trailed off as a large, flickering red smiley face appeared in the air in front of the strange man's faceplate.

To Gaige it almost seemed like a taunt, as if the man liked doing what no one expected or that he was laughing at their little exchange. _Or maybe he likes being frozen in a glowing ball of blue light, _she thought before giving Maya one of her sickly sweet smiles that had occasionally gotten her out of some stupid school project that took away too much time from her real work. "I think he might like the nickname."

Maya gave her an irritated look but said nothing as her arm began to noticeably shake. The teenage prodigy grinned as she took that to be her permission to continue questioning the new guy. "So, freaky mask dude, are you Hyperion or not?"

"You better answer or I swear I'm going to shoot," Maya hissed through her clenched jaw.

It was impossible to know if it was the threat or the more casual approach Gaige took, but she was apt to think it was her winning personality and glowing sense of humor that finally made the masked man speak in a strange, metallic voice. "No."

"So you aren't working for Handsome Jack?"

"No."

"If I let you go will you put away that…that sword?" Maya asked, her words coming out in pants as if she were in the middle of a long run.

Silence again fell, the man obviously thinking of his options. Finally, he gave out a simple "Yes."

Maya let out a sigh of relief and released the orb she had created, allowing both of the men to moved. Gaige couldn't help but laugh at the way Axton scrambled away from the masked man before standing and putting on a macho face. She didn't even care that Maya gave her a tired, impatient look. The whole situation was sort of comical if you took away the fact that they had almost been blown to bits by the psychopath that had recruited them in the first place.

"Gaige, go help Salvador," Maya repeated, her breathing still heavy. "Let us handle this."

"You know I can help too. I'm not just some stupid little girl. I've got skills."

"Then use those skills to keep Salvador from bleeding out!"

_Then use those skills to keep Salvador from bleeding out,_ she mocked in her head. "He's fine, Maya. The meds Axton gave him are working just fine."

"Go!" the older woman repeated while pointing to where the Truxican was wheezing, the ice and snow around his body stained a deep red.

"Fine," she whined going back to the midget man. She had to admit that Salvador did look worse from just a few minutes ago. "Don't die," she whispered as she stared at her new friend's blood soaked shirt and felt that rare feeling of insignificance that she only got when there was something she knew was out of her ability to repair.

The Truxican moaned, his eyes fluttering as he paled. "Shit," Gaige muttered, before running back to the others. She knew that this was well outside of her area of expertise. She could fix just about anything if she had the parts, but when it came to the intricate parts of the human body, like the lungs and the heart, she was at a loss.

"He needs help, now!" she called out to her two teammates who were still peppering the silent mask man with questions, Maya's gun held ready to be fired should the stranger attack. "He's unconscious!"

"Shit," the soldier mutter, brushing past the masked man with a look of disgust as he returned his focus to their fallen comrade. "Keep your eye on him and shout if he moves," he said to Gaige as he kneeled by Salvador and injected him with the last of their precious medicine.

Maya gave her a wary look as she slowly backed away from the statuesque man to assist Axton, slowly mouthing to the girl that she should be careful but to watch the stranger. Gaige did as she was told although she thought it was a bit stupid considering the man had saved her life by killing those soldiers. "How's it goin'?" she asked him. Getting only silence as a response she turned back to her two companions, catching Axton's eye. "How's he doing?"

"We need to come up with some sort of plan and we need to do it now."

"What do you suggest?" Maya asked as Salvador began to moan loudly, the color returning to his face.

Axton looked at the Truxican, his eyes quickly assessing their situation before motioning for them to move towards one of the many icy pillars that jutted out of the ground. "This isn't looking good," he started softly, clearly not wanting their fallen companion to hear. "If we don't find some sort of settlement or something in the next ten or fifteen minutes he's not going to make it."

"Well let's go then," Gaige answered impatiently. "Why are we wasting time talking?"

"I don't know about you, but my ECHO is destroyed," he answered. "I have no map, no way to see where we are, and no way of knowing which way to go."

"Mine too," Maya added.

Gaige stubbornly reached for her own trusty device, attempting to activate the intricate piece of equipment with no success. "The blast must have been powerful enough to jam up their transmissions," she conceded.

"So we need a plan," Axton repeated just as a small little robot unit whirred into view, cutting off the ex-soldier's train of thought as it approached their fallen comrade.

They all watched in silence as it approached their fallen comrade's body, dumbfounded by the robot's sudden appearance in what they had assumed was a tundra wasteland. The little bot seemed to give a mechanical sigh of sorts before setting down the shovel it had been carrying and reached out to grab Salvador's unmoving hands. "Great…another dead Vault Hunter. Handsome Jack's been busy. "

"You get away from him!" Maya shouted, turning her gun towards the little robot.

The small, box-like contraption turned towards them, its little claw hands shooting into the air. "Wait a minute, you're not dead!"

"Of course we're not dead," Axton said quickly. "Now tell us who your owner is or we will blast you to bits."

The little unit didn't seem to register the threatening edge in the soldier's voice or the fact that now two guns were pointed directly at his optic lens. "Yes! Now I can get off this glacier. Claptrap, your metaphorical ship has finally come in!" he chattered carelessly, spinning in a small circle as if in celebration before turning back to their small team. "Allow me to introduce myself. I am a CL4P-TP steward bot, but my friends call my Claptrap! Or they would if any of them were still alive. Or had existed in the first place!"

Gaige couldn't help but smile at his odd personality and congenial greeting. _He's not a Hyperion bot, _she thought looking at his simple design and complex personality. The loaders from the train had been more complex in their mechanics and had not given one indication of having any form of autonomy, unlike the Claptrap unit. "Hey, you don't happen to have any stim packs with you?" she called out, getting a frustrated look from both Axton and Maya who clearly couldn't tell that this robot wasn't anything like the units that had attacked them.

"Not here! But I do over there!" he finished, pointing towards a mound of ice in the distance.

"Come on guys, let's get Salvador and go!"

"Wait, how do we know we can trust him?" Maya asked, her eyes narrowing as the robot whirred towards them.

Axton gave her a serious look before moving to where Salvador lay. "We don't have much choice if we want him to live."

"I would prefer a map and making our own choices over following the directions of yet another unknown addition to our group," she muttered, giving both the masked man and the Claptrap unit a distrustful look.

As if on cue, the steward bot opened a compartment in his body and began to pull out small devices that Gaige immediately recognized as an outdated version of her now malfunctioning ECHO device.

"Oh! I've got something for you!" the Claptrap cried out enthusiastically, pushing the devices into their hands despite the hostile stance of the masked man and Maya's suspicious glare. "Here, take these ECHO communicators that I totally didn't loot from one of the corpses left up here! It should have a map built into it and will allow me to give you instructions as we get off this glacier! Now come with me, friends. Let's get you inside."

"Oh thank _god!_" Gaige sighed, greedily taking up the piece of equipment that had served as her social outlet for years. Granted, she would have to majorly reconfigure the unit before it would be anything like her damaged one, but it was better than nothing.

Maya gave her unit another suspicious look, one that Gaige could imagine the masked man was also giving his as he turned it in his gloved hands. Axton, though, did not hesitate in activating his own, giving Maya and their newest addition a significant look that held all the friendliness of a commander giving out an order. "We need a map and information and we need to get to shelter."

"Fine," she answered, moving towards Salvador's feet.

"No, let me and him take care of that," Axton cut in, motioning for the masked man to help him lift the thick Truxican.

"No."

"No? Look buddy, we're on the same team here. We've got to work together right now so we can figure out what to do next."

"The answer is no. I take orders from no man. The weak deserve death."

"Here," Maya cut in, grabbing their friend's legs, "Let's just go or Salvador is not going to make it."

Axton glared at the masked man, who already had moved away from the group so that they would be forced to walk in front of him. _You could cut this tension with a butter knife,_ Gaige thought as the ex-soldier grabbed the Truxican's shoulders and began to follow the robot that was spouting off a line of inner dialogue that included everything from a place called Sanctuary to belly buttons until they reached what appeared to be a garbage dump of scrap metal and random junk.

"Sorry about the mess," he started, moving towards a door and quickly pushing buttons on its security panel. "Everything Jack kills he dumps here…bandits, Vault Hunters, Claptrap units. If I sound pleased about this it's only because my programmers made this my default tone of voice! I'm actually quite depressed!"

"Hurry up, Claptrap, our friend isn't doing so hot," Gaige urged, giving her companion a worried look.

"Just a little added security. Gotta keep those bullymongs at bay or they'll rip your eyes out!" he explained as the door slid open to a long, sloping hallway. She didn't bother asking what the hell a bullymong was or why they would rip out your eyes as the warmth of the Claptrap's home made her skin feel like it was on fire. She had forgotten how cold she was as her adrenaline blocked out any information coming to her brain that was not immediately important to her survival. Letting out a little hiss, she moved into what was little more than a large cave filled with a small table with disabled claptrap units circling it, a few couches, and a large fire that made the igloo nice and warm.

"We need your stim packs, robot," Axton said as he and Maya placed a still unconscious Salvador on one of the couches while the masked man seemed to slink along the cave walls, like a large prowling cat. _Or a panther, _she thought as the Claptrap until whirred by her to one of several military-grade chests that were pushed against the walls of the snow cave, humming while he searched.

"Aha!" he shouted, holding up a few large red syringes. "I have found the items you were looking for."

"Bring it here and hurry," Axton ordered as he carefully grabbed the metal imbedded in Salvador's chest. "Now Maya, I need you to shoot that right into his chest while I pull this out."

"But won't that make him go into shock if we don't inject it peripherally?"

"We don't really have any options here, he'll bleed out if we don't. Now get ready," he said slowly, his knuckles becoming white as he gripped the metal sheet. "One, two, three!"

Gaige, squeezed her eyes shut as he pulled out the metal, a sharp gasp escaping Salvador before a tense silence fell. "Is he okay?" she heard herself asking, refusing to look at what could very well be her friend's corpse.

"He's healing," Axton answered. "At least his chest is closing up and he's still breathing. Time will tell if this was enough."

Daring to peek, she saw what he said was true. Salvador's chest was rising and falling in short, uneven bursts, but at least he was breathing. His skin was pale and clammy looking most likely from blood loss, but he didn't appear to be actively dying. At least not in the way she imagined someone would look if a major artery was bleeding everywhere inside of them. She had enough understanding of general anatomy to know that he would be suffocating on his own blood right about now if the stim hadn't been powerful enough to heal him.

The Claptrap rolled towards them, oblivious to the tension that still filled the as he held out a deck of cards. "Anyone wanna play some bridge? I got a deck of cards in here. I'll even tell you what I have. I'm bidding three nil, but you should probably bid 4 spades... "

"Not now," Axton answered, waving him away as he continued to check on Salvador. The little robot turned back towards a dark corner of the room where the masked man was sitting. Gaige had almost forgotten he was there. It was _so creepy_ how he didn't seem to move or even breathe. Even when the Claptrap held the cards out towards him the man didn't move. It was almost like he was a robot, powered down and dead to the world.

"Bridge?" Claptrap asked, his synthetic voice full of programmed hope.

"No."

"Ah come on, play with me!"

"No."

"No one's going to play with me?" he asked, turning in where he stood so that his lens faced each of the Vault Hunters in turn.

"Claptrap, we don't have time for games. We need to find guns and supplies right now," Axton cut in just as a small clicking noise came from their ECHO devices. "What the hell?"

"It appears that you are receiving a transmission, might Vault Hunters!" Claptrap replied as static filled their ears followed by the sudden blue and white grid unique to the digistruct network.

"Who would be trying to contact us?" he asked just as the pale face of a woman appeared. She had a pleasant smile that didn't seem to move as her electric blue eyes focused on each of them, her dark hair blowing in some sort of wind.

"I'll explain everything soon," she started, her voice sweet and high like a nanny talking to a group of new children. "But know this. You're alive for a reason and I…I'm here to help you."

"Who are you?" Axton pressed. "How did you find us?"

The woman didn't look like she could hear the soldier's question, her expression unchanging as she continued to talk without ever bothering to give an answer. "You're part of a bigger story than you can even image. Once upon a time four Vault Hunters who changed Pandora forever. They were extraordinary individuals with extraordinary skills, but their time has passed."

"Hey, lady," he tried again, pushing buttons on the small control panel. "Can you hear me?"

"Thanks to Handsome Jack, Pandora needs a hero. I know that hero is you."

"Is this some kind of recording? Hello? Hello!"

"Listen to this Claptrap unit. He will help you get off this glacier and into the city of Sanctuary. That is the only place you'll be safe. I'll come back when I have more instructions."

The fuzzy blue image disappeared as quickly as it had come, leaving them all slightly confused and speechless. Gaige, though admittedly not an _expert_, per se, on the digistruct network and the communication devices, she had taken apart and modified enough things to recognize a false image when she saw one. Whoever the serene blue woman was, she hadn't shown them her face or at least not a live stream of her face while she was talking to them. But even that wasn't the most abnormal part of the conversation. There was the question of how the woman had managed to contact all of them only minutes after they received their new devices. _That would take a lot of work,_ she thought slowly as she mentally began to go through all the little loopholes in the network.

"She must be some sort of extreme hacker," she finally said aloud, more to herself than anyone else.

"What's that?" Axton asked.

"Oh, I just was thinking that she must be some sort of hacker to be able to access our devices without us either confirming open communication with her or having our ECHOs set to an open broadcast."

"So you think she hacked into the network to help us?"

"I suppose so," she shrugged. "I can't imagine why else she would be contacting us. Do you know anything about her, Claptrap? Or this Sanctuary?"

"Sanctuary is the home of the resistance against Handsome Jack," he said making a funny little fist with his thin metal arms.

"Can you take us there?"

"Of course I can! All we have to do is get across this glacier without being eaten by bullymongs!"

"And what exactly are those?" Axton asked.

"They are the fearsome six armed creatures indigenous to this area!"

"So we still need guns. Mine was destroyed in the blast. All I have is my sidearm."

"I just have this pistol," Maya chipped in, patting the small gun at her hip.

"And we know our new _friend_ has his sword thing, so that just leaves Salvador, Gaige, and myself without some form of a decent weapon."

"Well I have –" she started before Maya cut her off with a huff.

"I don't think we'll find much for weapons up here."

"Then we'll be stuck. We cannot afford to strike out unequipped, especially if there are some sort of six-armed monsters that live out there. If they are anything like the skags we're going to need some firepower until we reach this sanctuary. We can't just depend on my turret, two handguns, and some psychopath with a sword."

The masked man who had found himself a dark corner in the cave shifted a little with Axton's words. There was nothing outright threatening about it, in fact it was little more than him changing his position, but Gaige thought there was a threatening edge to the movement. She was just about to tell Axton to calm down when the Claptrap unit whirred towards the entrance of the cave, his happy voice full of excitement. "Have no fear! I know where some weapons are hidden out on the glacier! I'll go get them!"

"Thanks, Claptrap," Gaige muttered after the robot, feeling a little pity for the obliviously cheerful machine. It seemed wrong that he hadn't been programmed to understand complex social interactions better or at the very least to know when he was being used. She would never let DT be treated so callously as Axton and Maya were treating him. _They could at least say please and thank you_.

"So this is the plan," Axton started after the robot left. "Once we have some weapons and supplies we'll map out a course towards this Sanctuary."

"What about Salvador?" Maya asked as she crossed her arms. "How is he getting to this Sanctuary? Are we leaving him behind or is this assuming he's going to pull through this?"

"Whoa, Maya, take a breath. If you want the detailed plan I will give you the detailed plan."

"Is there one?" she asked giving him a hard look as their ECHO devices began to click again. "Oh now what?"

They waited for a moment, a grid forming in front of them as the static cleared. But instead of the serene looking brunette, the mocking grin from the train flashed up on the screen. _Handsome Jack,_ Gaige thought, her hands forming tight fists.

"Hey there Vault Hunters, Handsome Jack here, president of Hyperion. Are all of your ECHO devices receiving? Yes? Oh good! I'm so glad that my little explosion didn't stop us from being able to talk. Since we're all here, let me tell you how things work here on Pandora. Vault Hunters show up, Vault Hunters look for the new Vault, Vault Hunters get killed. By me. You seeing the problem here? I'm sure _you_ do, Gaige, you smart girl you. Not quite smart enough to win that science fair, but I think you can follow my train of thought. You might have to explain it to Salvador, he's a little slow even for a Truxican. Though, come to think of it, he does seem to have a grasp on what I'm trying to get across here. You see, you all are still alive. So if you could just do me a favor and off yourselves that'd be great. Heck, I'll even do something crazy. Zer0, you're an assassin, right? How's about you shoot the rest of these Vault Hunters and I give you a crate full of gold. We'll flesh out the details later, 'kay? Thanks, pumpkin."

A small click marked the transmission as ended. Gaige turned to the tall masked man, taking in the large zero on his chest before going to the metal sword hilt he still held in his hand. She noticed for the first time that he had only four fingers on his hands, but it didn't seem to affect his grip on his weapon. Looking up she couldn't help but think the black faceplate on his helmet made him look like he had no soul, as if he were nothing more than that sinister shadow that you only saw from the corner of your eye. Only instead of disappearing when you looked directly at it, this time the shadow was there, staring at you from under a mask deciding if you were going to live or die. _Well shit._

"You're not going to actually believe a word that guy says, are you?" Axton asked, his hand sitting on top of his pistol.

The masked man, or Zer0 as Handsome Jack called him, tilted his head a little as if considering Axton's words, or Jack's offer. Gaige felt herself squirm a little as the air seemed to grow heavy with the tension. Once again it was Axton trying to stare down the newest member of their little team, putting himself between a man that could disappear and reappear at will. _Axton doesn't stand a chance,_ she thought to herself, her hand drifting to the controls of DT.

Finally, just when she felt that something or someone had to move, whether it be Axton firing his gun or the masked man using his digistruck sword to take off the ex-soldiers head, Zer0 spoke in the same calm manner that he had before when a gun was pointed at his head. "You are too easy."

"What is that suppose to mean?"

"Soldiers, Sirens, and children. That is no challenge," he finished, his body remaining completely still as if any possible attack any of them could throw at him could easily be deflected. For all Gaige knew they probably could.

"What do you mean soldiers, sirens, and children are no challenge?"

"He's talking about us," Maya sighed heavily, moving from where she sat to pull Axton away. "You're the soldier, I'm the Siren, and Gaige is the child. He's saying we're not worth his time."

"Wait. You're a Siren?"

"What did you think that giant blue orb was?"

"I don't know. Alien technology?" he answered with a shrug, the insult from the assassin falling from his mind at Maya's revelation. "I thought all the Sirens were dead."

"What would make you think that?"

"The Crimson Lance always bragged that they had the last Siren working for them. When Commandant Steele died I just assumed that there weren't any Sirens left."

"Haven't you ever been to Athenas? The Order of the Impending Storm really didn't make it a secret I was there."

"Why would Dahl ever go to that nutty place? A whole bunch of priests running the show? No thank you."

Maya snorted, her lips quirking up into a smile that made Axton grin like a fool despite the tension and multiple near death experiences the day seemed to have brought. Even Gaige with her limited experience could see that he was attracted to her and favored her over anyone else in the group. _But then again I'm just a child, _she thought bitterly as the two continued to talk.

"I can't argue with you there," Maya answered moving back to Salvador. "Try being raised as some kind of cruel and angry goddess."

"Well at least you didn't have to follow pointless protocols."

She gave a little laugh as her hands moving to her hips in a way that drew Axton's glance down her body. Gaige felt a pang of jealousy over the attention Maya was able to command with just a slight shift in stance. She knew that her lean body and almost non-existent curves didn't make men drool over her. Hell she hadn't even been able to get one of the stupid fat boys at her school to ask her to any of the dances, not that she had wanted to go. But it just didn't seem fair that already all of Axton's attention was on Maya and that everyone just saw her as a child. She was eighteen, for heaven's sake, and she was a genius. She couldn't understand why no one ever seemed to take her seriously.

But there was Maya, smiling her stupid little smile. Gaige knew that no matter what she did, she would never be able to command the rapt attention of an attractive guy like Axton. It didn't matter that she had created what could be considered the next leap in weapons technology, nor did it matter that she was the smartest person in the room. _That is if that Zer0 guy isn't a robot,_ she conceded, happy to focus on the only other person in the room the other Vault Hunters seemed to dislike more as the Siren's smooth voice continued to grate on her freshly healed ears.

"I probably had to follow more rules than any military could claim to have. The monks were very strict."

"I don't think your monks could hold a candle to the military," Axton answered with a little smile, a shadow passing over his face for moment before his bright expression returned. "Now let's see how you're doing," he said bending over the Truxican with more care that Gaige would have thought possible. It was obvious that he had some experience watching out for others, even if he had seemed cocky on the train. But when push came to shove, she had to admit that when it was needed he really showed that he cared.

"How is he?" she asked as she continued watch his careful inspection.

"His vitals are holding."

"Good," Gaige said, a wave of relief releasing the tension in her muscles that she hadn't even realized was there. For the first time since being attacked it finally felt like there was a light at the end of the tunnel. They were safe, Salvador was alive, and the masked man wasn't going to kill them. Even better they had a mysterious computer hacker on their side and a robot that seemed to know his way around Pandora. In her mind things were really starting to look up.

Dropping down on one of the old, dirty couches, she loosened her boots and let out a large sigh. "Well thank god this is almost over."

"It's far from over," he answered darkly. "That Handsome Jack guy nearly killed us all and now we're abandoned in the middle of a glacier with half of our equipment broken, missing, or destroyed. In my books, that means this is just the beginning."

"It might have been better had we died," Maya cut in darkly, her silver eyes looking at a hazy digistruck screen from her ECHO device. "We are miles from any real civilization and from what I know this planet pretty much belongs to Hyperion. We're screwed if we don't find some real supplies soon."

"Well look at the positives. We're not dead. And _we're not dead_. Besides that, the train was pretty awesome. I mean the way the it went up? KAWBLAM!" she finished, throwing her arms in the air to imitate the giant ball of flames that had shot into the air.

"It was not _awesome_, Gaige," Axton huffed. "Salvador was wounded and we all were nearly killed."

"Lighten up. We're alive and Salvador is doing fine. You all need to take a chill pill. All we need to do is get some big guns and track down Handsome Jack. Payback's a bitch, am I right?" she finished with a smile.

"Do you even realize what we're up against?" he replied, shaking his head. "Hyperion is a _huge_ corporation with unlimited resources. Jack obvious wants us dead and he won't stop until we are."

"So your plan is just to give up? How is letting some psychopath in a creepy mask killing us a good plan? No offense freaky mask dude," she added, giving a quick smile to the assassin who made no indication that he was even listening.

"He doesn't mean we're giving up," Maya interjected. "He is saying that it's not going to be as easy as getting new weapons and tracking him down. If any of us want to get out of this alive we're going to have to work together and come up with a plan."

"Well _obviously_," she answered, rolling her eyes. "Do you think I was just born yesterday? I was _simplifying_ things. Seriously. You all act like I'm stupid. Clearly we're going to go to this Sanctuary place and find this resistance that lady and Claptrap talked about."

"I don't know if that's a good idea," Maya said slowly giving Axton a significant look. "We were just fooled by Handsome Jack and nearly killed, why should we trust this woman? Where was she when we all boarded the train?"

"Then what do you suggest we do? Build a snowman?"

"No, I suggest we get more information before we blindly walk into another trap."

"Where?" she asked, her voice growing _snotty_, as her father would say, but she didn't care. It was so obvious what they needed to do and she could not understand why her companions were even fighting about it. They were trapped on a glacier in the middle of a planet where there was a man that wanted to kill them. At certain point you had to accept help wherever it came, whether it was a hilarious Claptrap unit or a disembodied ECHO voice. Going to this Sanctuary sounded a lot better than freezing to death in the middle of nowhere. And even if it was another trap at least they would be doing _something_ rather than just sitting there.

"We'll find someplace."

"_Where?_"

"I don't know!" Maya answered, raising her voice.

"Then why not sanctuary? Why are you being so pigheaded about this?"

"Forgive me for not wanting to trust people blindly, Gaige. Perhaps you wouldn't if you understood the way the universe worked a little better."

"What is that suppose to mean?"

"Just what I said. You're young. I'm sure you don't have any experience with people outside of the kids you went to school with."

"I have experience!" Gaige shouted, feeling her face grow hot as she grew angrier. "Just because I can't shoot blue balls out of my hands doesn't mean I'm just some stupid kid!"

"But you didn't shoot _anything_ when we were being attacked. If I hadn't knocked you over you would be lying out there dead. You are inexperienced and not cut out for this."

Gaige felt her hands clench tight, the metal one making a sharp grinding noise. "I'm sorry I froze, Maya. I didn't know you were so perfect."

"Okay, that's enough!" Axton finally yelled, stepping between the two women who had moved closer and closer to each other. "Gaige, she's right. You're inexperienced otherwise you wouldn't have froze. And Maya, she has a point too. We don't have a lot of information right now and there are absolutely no resources up here. We at least have to get off this glacier and to somewhere with supplies and people."

"It doesn't hurt to be cautious," the Siren snapped. "Doesn't it strike you as odd that the train blew up just outside of this Claptrap's house and he conveniently has ECHO devices for all of us and than almost immediately after putting them online we are contacted by that woman _and_ Handsome Jack?"

"But what choice do we have but to at least temporarily trust her and the Claptrap?" he argued. "Salvador is going to need something more than just a stim pack and from what I've seen of this place there isn't food. On top of that, I'm sure there is a big convoy of Hyperion loaders and guards heading our way right now. I know Dahl at least would be sending in a massive force to eliminate someone that they hadn't successfully killed the first time. They did not like taking chances. Hyperion is probably not much different."

"Minions!" the Claptrap suddenly whirred in from the cold before anyone could respond. "I have returned!"

Axton gave the robot a quick glance before turning back to them. "I say we discuss this more in the morning when we have clear heads."

"Fine," Maya replied, standing from the table and moving as far from Gaige as possible. Or at least that's what it seemed like to the girl.

_Bitch,_ she thought, glaring at her stupid blue hair and ugly yellow shirt. _I'll show you who's inexperienced. _Pulling the little hammerand screwdriver from her belt, she carefully removed her mechanical arm from her shoulder and placed it on the ground in front of her. "I am not going to freeze up again," she muttered angrily as she activated her prized achievement, D 374-TP. _Deathtrap_.

A buzzing noise filled the little room as the typical blue and white grid of digistruction appeared a few feet in front of her.

"What are you doing?" Axton asked from her side, his eyes growing wide as her robot materialized in front of them.

"Making sure that I contribute next time," she answered curtly, even though the ex-soldier's impressed expression secretly made her feel giddy with pride. But then again, who wouldn't be impressed with Deathtrap? He was like a giant metal human torso with massive claw-hands. Only the money-hungry idiots at the science fair failed to see the pure awesomeness that was her robot.

Looking up, she was happy to see that Maya was watching curiously from her corner and so was the assassin. Or at least she thought he was based on the direction his helmet was facing. _Good, be impressed, biatches._

"So what exactly are you doing?"

"I'm going to reprogram DT with an algorithm that will activate him if there appears to be a threat based on the number of distinct guns firing, the amplitude and frequency of fire, and the level of my heart rate. That way he'll appear when I need him whether I summon him or not so he can slash some uglies to death," she said excitedly, her mood immediately improving with talk about her robot.

"So you're saying you could have made this thing appear back when we were on the train?"

"If I hadn't been blinded by Ms. Blue Balls over there or had my head ringing from a certain turret-happy commando? Well yes, yes I could have."

"Where did you get this?" Axton asked, tentatively holding his hand out to touch the robot but pulling it back when Gaige gave him a sharp look.

"I built him. He's one of a kind, baby. Ain't no one else got one but me."

"You built this?"

"Yup."

"On your own, without help?"

"You are correct, sir. It pays being a child genius and all. My IQ is through the _roof!_"

He gave her an appraising look, a small smile coming to his face. "So why not program it to come out if you hear one gun fire? Wouldn't that make more sense from a strategy stand point?"

"Because _he_ is also programmed to eliminate any threats to me. Science fair 101, my friend, Deathtrap is not very understanding when it comes to perceived threats to his adoring mother."

He crouched down near its hands, his eyes slowly examining his digistructed claws. "Sounds like you've tested it out?"

"Let's just say I had no idea a person's guts could travel the length of a gymnasium."

Axton let out a low whistle. "Well I hope whatever your doing works. I would love to see this baby in action."

She gave him her sweetest smile, the one that she used when her teachers were being idiots about her missing a class or forgetting an assignment because she was working on some project or another. Usually it didn't have the same affect as Marcy's stupid _dazzling_ smile did, but then again when your father pays a gazillion dollars to make you look perfect it had better be able to make people melt like butter in your hands. _Stupid Marcy,_ she thought again. If it hadn't been for that thieving bitch Gaige knew she would be completing her senior year and going to some university to continue her inventing. But that plan had been derailed quite violently, leaving her little option but to get the hell off Eden-5.

_But this won't end like that,_ she thought darkly as she continued to make adjustments to her beloved robot. _I will not be chased out or overshadowed again_.

* * *

Zer0 sat apart from the arguing Vault Hunters, anger and annoyance filling every cell of his body. He always attempted to remain even-tempered knowing that his more primitive functions, such as emotions, could very well cloud his decision-making abilities. But after what had happened on the train he was far from the calm state he preferred.

_An obvious trap,_ he thought to himself over and over again as a deep, unforgiving rage filled him. He knew the data he had collected had been too easy to access, he knew that Hyperion was not blind to his prodding, but he hadn't expected a full frontal attack by the corporation before _anyone_ had even started to look for the mythical Vault. He had been wrong in his analysis of the situation and now he faced the consequences.

Glancing over to where the three uninjured Vault Hunters sat he felt a cold disgust fill him. He was trapped with _them_; three insignificant humans who still continued to fight for dominance amongst each other despite their situation. It was pathetic. But the blast had damaged too much for him to move on immediately. His rifle was badly bent at the barrel and the scope had completely broken free. It would never shoot true again and therefore was useless to him. Even worse, his mask had taken damage upon landing on the unforgiving glacial ice. His vision was partially distorted by a crack running through his faceplate while a small clicking noise indicated that the tiny pieces that made up his intricate mask had been jostled into misalignment. He would need hours, if not days, to fix the damage. And he would need privacy.

_I need darkness,_ he thought again as the Siren began to lecture the redheaded girl. It was warranted, no doubt, since the girl had done little to help her comrades or even to save herself, but he had no interest in being forced to listen to it. Her voice was grating to his sensitive ears as the pieces of his helmet that softened the unnecessary noises around him failed.

To make matters worse, his suit had been torn along with a large section of his thigh. Even if it was merely superficial, his muscles were in need of care and the bleeding eventually would weaken him. Looking out at the humans he again felt the pressing need for darkness and privacy.

_Their deaths would not be difficult to secure,_ he thought once more. If he killed the Siren first, the alpha male would most likely attack him wildly with his pistol. All he would need to do is use his hologram decoy and silently slip behind him with his blade. The girl would be defenseless, just as she was on the train, and the Truxican was already near death. He would be alone and could take his time fixing his equipment and caring for his few wounds.

The plan seemed sound and logical, but just as he felt his muscles tense to follow through with the course that he had chosen the girl removed her robotic arm. He watched her for a moment, curious as to what the intelligent girl was doing when a massive robot with lethal claws appeared from a digistruct grid. _Interesting, _he thought as he took in her creation's weapon capabilities.

_The only weapons equipped are its hands_, he noted carefully. _It is vulnerable to attacks at a distance. _Glancing down at his sniper rifle he once more felt the frustration over the consequences of his poor assumptions. There were only a few options before him and none were very pleasing. He could attempt to kill the four Vault Hunters and the Claptrap robot with his sword despite his wounded condition and obscured vision. Yet that course would most likely result in further injury that would force him to remain in the cave while healing. It was an undesirable outcome as it was clear Handsome Jack knew where he was. He would not wait for the coward to send more robots to eliminate him, as it would be a most unworthy death.

His second course of action would be to leave immediately before becoming entangled with the four weak humans any further than he already was. Although this was a tempting idea if he was to meet the challenge of the Vault he needed to be healed and have functioning equipment. He had to assume that this Handsome Jack would be following his progress and would not hesitate to claim what was to be the greatest test of his existence. _The Vault must be mine,_ he told himself as his anger mixed with his determination. This was not an option.

Finally, he could linger with the four Vault Hunters. Travel with them to this Sanctuary and learn more about Handsome Jack and his plans. If the resistance the robot spoke of truly were the enemies of Hyperion they would have intelligence that potentially would include the Vault. Yet this plan would mean submitting himself to the weaknesses of others. He would not have the control over his kills as the Vault Hunters would be in the way. He would be vulnerable to the emotional whims of the women and the irrational spontaneity of the men. He was a species apart from the Vault Hunters; he was the hunter and they were the prey. _Yet when the jungle burns the tiger flees with the deer._

Turning his mask back to the humans he could see the same pathetically frightened look in their eyes that animals lower on the food chain often had after narrowly escaping a predator. _Hyperion has started a fire,_ he thought grimly his jaw clenching under his damaged masked. _And they have woken a beast._


	5. Solitude Lost

AN: Hello on this fine Board Exam weekend. Clearly I am procrastinating with studying, so here is chapter 5 just for all of you! Thank you again for the wonderful set of reviews. Each one is appreciated and makes my day to read. To those without accounts…

Ant Hill: Yikes! You sound like you had a stalker. And I hear ya on the whole distraction of boys thing. Although I would say Zer0 is far more distracting than my bf…Anyways, off topic response, glad you liked Gaige.

Guest 119: HELLO! And soonish I think you might be. I'm long winded, so it may take a few chapters but eventually there will be some progress on that front.

AlienPerv: Fat cat? Sounds cuddly. In terms of the rating, I want to try and stay T but to be honest I get just as caught up by the romance and violence as others so it may have to be bumped up. We'll see how it all turns out…and loved that last bit of your review. I chuckled.

Holycammoli: Here you go and thanks!

Guest 2/13: thanks and if you are still reading it will just take time.

ARGH: alright, alright!

UPDATE: yes, Gaige has a lot to learn or she will die. I make no promises that all the characters are going to survive until the end. In fact I can almost guarantee someone or multiple someones may die.

Pantsless Wonder: No guarantees for either of you. It's a long story, just wait and see what happens.

Dying and Shakes: Yes, I'm slow in updating. Sorry!

Guest 3092: hehe, no, no they won't.

There you have it folks. In the words of the tenth doctor and Claptrap, Allons-y!

* * *

**Chapter 5**

* * *

_Both the man of science and the man of action live always at the edge of mystery, surrounded by it. _

_J. Robert Oppenheimer, theoretical physicist_

* * *

The cave was finally silent. The creatures that currently sought its refuge were either sleeping or too involved in their own thoughts to truly notice any subtle movements in the shadows. Zer0 had been waiting for this moment for hours, listening to the pointless arguments of the Vault Hunters that seemed to continually return to the same point. The alpha male would state that they needed to move as soon as dawn broke while the alpha female would contest that it was too dangerous to go without more knowledge of what awaited them, especially when they lacked gear and they had a fallen comrade. The child would make disrespectful faces at her superiors while the Truxican's labored breathing added one more irritating level to the noise. Zer0 wished that his helmet had not been so badly damaged so he could have their voices filtered to a lower decibel, yet that had not been his fate and he was forced to continually hear their arguments over and over again.

It took nearly three hours before the alpha male finally suggested that the group sleep. He proposed a watch to be formed, his eyes darting to where Zer0 had perched as he spoke of potential threats. The child had complained uselessly about her leader's idea, but the Siren had readily agreed. Although Zer0 in theory appreciated the soldier's vigilant plan, it meant that he was trapped in the open cave full of watchful eyes completely unable to tend to his wounds or repair his gear. He felt the unwelcomed tightness in his chest that came with anger as he realized how dependent he currently was on the insignificant and pathetic Vault Hunters. It was a horrible reality that in his current state he was not prepared for a large attack by Hyperion and would likely suffer injuries far more dangerous than those he already had and therefore was forced to travel with them.

_Four insignificant humans,_ he thought angrily as the stinging from his throbbing legacted as a continual reminder of his current state. If he had not been injured they would not be alive and he would be well on his way to the city named Sanctuary. There would be no silent waiting in the shadows for the humans to finally stop talking, nor would his actions be molded by the whims of the simple creatures.

He felt his muscles tense and his heart beat a little faster as his anger built. Normally he attempted to smother his emotions and not let them rule his mind or body. Feelings, legitimate or not, could easily cloud his judgment and make him vulnerable. In fact, it was probably the most common of weaknesses of his targets that allowed him to assassinate them with little effort. Yet as the former soldier situated himself directly across the room from him, his blue eyes staring at him threateningly he could not help but feel an intense surge of anger. If he wanted to kill the Vault Hunters they would be dead, watch or no. All the alpha male was doing was preventing him from caring for his wounds and making the necessary assessments of what damage was taken by his gear.

_A foolish trap with idiotic consequences,_ he seethed to himself, his hands forming tight fists as he started at the alpha with the attention of a hawk stalking a rabbit. If he was forced to tolerate the humans for a period of time he decided he would at least learn as much as he could about them so that he could make their deaths as satisfying as possible. Their screams and begging him for mercy was the only conversations he wished to hear them. _And the alpha will be first_,he promised as he took in the sandy-haired man's movements and features.

Like with his previous analysis, it was clear that the soldier enjoyed exerting his dominance over the others. He naturally took the leadership role, giving orders to his comrades while leaving the jobs he preferred to himself. Zer0 had seen his type many times before leading humans while thriving in the power bestowed upon them. It gave them a false sense of invincibility as they controlled those below them with a few stern words. Soon they all would take unnecessary risks, getting a thrill from the danger as they challenged life. They would ignore the wise and cautious words of those around them and be constantly seeking new adventures to fill their addiction to test their power over death, leaving them vulnerable to attacks. This Vault Hunter was no different. His smooth tanned face showed his youth and his cocky smile hinting at his delusions of invincibility.

_Hot-headed and juvenile,_ Zer0 thought with satisfaction. _He will be quick to make lethal mistakes. He is insignificant._

The alpha male seemed oblivious to the assassin's observations and soon lost his interest in the masked man as time moved by quietly. He dropped his watch on the only being that he truly should be afraid of, letting his posture slump and his eyes wander. It was not long before he began to sigh, his hands reaching towards his neck to touch the lump resting under his shirt for a moment before falling back to his lap. His frown deepened with each repetition of the ritual, his hand lingering longer on whatever was around his neck every time.

_His mind is clouded by something,_ Zer0 noted, carefully storing the information for future use when it came time to eliminate the competition for the Vault. The alpha male would be most vulnerable while thinking of whatever it was that was attached to the objects he wore around his neck or would act foolishly if taunted with it. In either scenario, it would give the assassin the edge over the young man and allow for a quick, clean kill, saving precious time and energy that was better spent in the pursuit of a real challenge.

The alpha male sighed again, his hand reaching for his chest and his eyes closing. He kept that position for a long time, his mind clearly not on his current situation or focused on Zer0 any longer. _He is distracted,_ the assassin thought realizing it may be the closest he would get to having any sort of privacy, though it was far from ideal.

He continued to watch the ex-soldier for a few minutes, waiting for any sign of the man returning his attention to the dark corner Zer0 had claimed for himself. Yet it appeared the alpha was fully consumed by his own thoughts, leaving the assassin to cautiously begin the delicate process of healing his wounds. Slowly, he unwrapped the yellow tourniquet that he had fashioned from the uniform on one of the Hyperion corpses. He clenched his teeth as he tugged the cloth free from where it had dried onto his wound, causing his leg to begin oozing fresh, cherry red blood. Pressing on the gash, the cloth quickly became saturated, his blood mixing with the dried splotches of the human that had once wore the suit.

Pulling the cloth back, he couldn't help but stare for a moment at the startling contrast of his own brightly colored blood next to the deeper tones of the humans. It always amazed him that humans had not developed blood similar to his own over the course of their evolutionary life. Earth, though abundant in nitrogen and oxygen did not have an insignificant level of carbon monoxide in their atmosphere. Especially after the major industrialization on their planet of origin, the humans would have been exposed to what was a potentially lethal chemical on a regular basis. It was odd that they had not developed the ability to utilize the compound rather than have it irreversibly bind to their hemoglobin molecules and thus kill them.

_Another weakness of their species, _he mused, noting it as one of the more significant differences between him and their race. He was perfectly able to survive in an atmosphere of oxygen or carbon monoxide, though the latter was more comfortable for him. He could even, to an extent, exist in an atmosphere made largely of carbon dioxide if need be due to the multiple cell types that made up his blood. Unlike the humans he was not held prisoner by hemoglobin and oxygen, dependant on them for his survival. He was stronger and better suited for life in the universe than the weak species that slept before him.

Turning back to his leg, he began to carefully pick out pieces of metal and dirt from the wound as he thought about what the differences in his DNA could mean for his experiment on Promethea. Theoretically, he and the humans shared enough of their genetic code that they could procreate. Much like a donkey and a horse, interspecies mating was not a completely rare occurrence. In fact, even not having the same number of chromosomes did not mean that reproduction with the humans would be impossible, though it may lead to developmental issues or infertility in the child.

_But that is only a concern if fertilization occurred and the embryo is not miscarried, _he thought as he inspected is wound for further foreign objects. He wondered how his extra pair of chromosomes would be expressed in a child. Would it lie dormant or cause a yet unknown genetic disorder? Or would the child express the traits linked on the chromosome, such as some of the distinct cell types that humans lacked? _There are too many variables to guess,_ he told himself, knowing that wasting his energy ruminating over an outcome that was still very unlikely to occur did little for him in his quest for the Vault.

_That is your challenge, the test you have been waiting for,_ he reminded himself as he carefully pulled out a small pink vial filled with chemicals that could make cells replicate nearly three hundred times their normal speed. Breaking the glass in his hand, he let the precious liquid run directly over the red shredded piece of flesh that had once been a part of his leg. Within seconds deep red fibers began to expand to fill the empty spaces that had once held a powerful band of muscle. Soon, his muscle was joined by fresh pearly flesh that grew out from the edges of his shredded skin in soft patches. It was fascinating to watch his body heal over the span of a few hours, the innate intelligence of his genes correctly placing the right type of cells in the correct spot. Considering the number of replications each tiny cell underwent it was spectacular that he would notice no decrease in function or change in ability. It would be like he never had been injured at all.

A shuffling noise pulled him from his thoughts, returning him to the icy igloo that he was trapped in. Once more the dark and angry feelings filled him as he glanced up to see the alpha male slowly rise from his watch and approach the Siren. The soldier lingered by her side for a few minutes watching her as she slept before reaching down and gently nudging her awake.

"Are you up for standing watch?" he asked in a whisper that seemed pointless to Zer0. No matter how softly the humans tried to speak they always were too loud. Whispers had given away more than a few of his targets, allowing him easily find them and slice through their bodies with his sword. Turning back to his healing leg, he did his best to ignore Siren's groggy _yes_ and the crunching noise of ice and rocks as alpha male shuffled to a nearby couch.

_Good, _he thought as he examined the pale flesh for a final time, touching it lightly to ensure that it wouldn't break open and begin bleeding again. Satisfied, he wrapped the stained yellow cloth back around his leg, covering the tear in his suit until he was able to get the materials to repair it.

Turning his attention to his helmet, he frowned at the large crack that ran the entire length of his faceplate. It was one of many things damaged on his precious mask during the explosion. He already knew that his sound control was ruined, leaving him completely unable to filter the noises of his surroundings. He also suspected that there was some damage to the visual components as the dark cave did not have the crispness his helmet gave to his vision. Yet that was only a speculation. He could only really know the full extent of what needed to be fixed if he was able to find privacy to remove the helmet completely. His frown deepened at the thought, an emoticon flashing in front of him before disappearing.

Thankfully, before he could dwell on the terrible turn of events any longer, a small beep filled his ears from his helmet marking the solicitation of his unique services. _Good, at least that wasn't damaged_, he thought grimly as he pulled up the message. The transmission was coming from Athenas, a small planet absorbed by the illogical superstition of religion. He had never understood how an entire species of creatures could take the concept of a superior creature and add so much myth and legend surrounding it. Even more perplexing was how they would kill each other over different words regarding a superior being. It was yet another thing that made him superior to the weak-minded people currently populating the galaxies. Still, he had to admit that the religious fervor and fear that poisoned the planet had made for some interesting contracts.

_Shadows and poison,_ he thought with a small smile as he recalled the nervous nature of the few that had utilized his services. They had feared that if the death looked suspicious the priests that ruled the planet would find them and punish them before some child-goddess that they worshipped. So he was instructed to act discretely, making each death appear natural.

Zer0's smile widened as he recalled a few of his kills, a red hologram floating in front of his mask. It had felt so good creeping in the darkness of the target's home, drugging them into unconsciousness and using a long, sharp needle to push through their skin at the base of their skulls, damaging the brainstem enough to stop respiration. They had been the most delicate jobs he had had in a very long time, utilizing training that he rarely had the opportunity to use. It had been a very pleasant and much needed break from sniping and slitting throats. _But they were no challenge, _he reminded himself. _The Vault is the prize. The Vault is the great challenge. Don't get distracted._

Closing the message, he returned to the meticulous task of testing his helmet but the nagging curiosity of what the job on Athenas was kept interrupting his thoughts. He knew that no true challenge would likely be in a planet ruled by monks but the skill needed for the jobs required something more than just straight shooting and flawless aim. That, at least, would distract him from the disappointment of Pandora and the horrible circumstances he found himself in.

_Though unlikely, Athenas could test my skill,_ he reasoned slowly as he opened the message, ignoring the part of his mind that told him he was wasting precious time doing so. Instead, he waited as the information streamed in front of his eyes, paragraphs of pointless words the seekers of the contract felt that he would want to know. It was always the case. The unskilled, pathetic creatures that sought him out would never understand that he did not care to know _why_ they wanted someone dead, only what the job would entail. Without bothering to read what his potential employer had wrote, he moved to the mark's biography.

_Female, twenty-five, blue hair, Siren._ Looking past his screen, he couldn't help but stare at Maya, the alpha female of the little group of Vault Hunters. She seemed lost in thought, her eyes cast towards the floor and her hand thoughtlessly running through her short blue hair. She was oblivious that a contract had been made on her life, the distraction making her an effortless kill. Turning back to the message he quickly read what was written by whoever was attempting to hire his services.

_Maya is a dangerous young woman. She was an orphan raised on the charity of the Order despite her constant angry outbursts and fits of violence. We attempted to train her in our lifestyle of peace and servant leadership but we have failed. In cold blood she murdered Brother Sophis, a cornerstone of our order that can never be replaced. We have gathered up ten billion dollars in cash if you can bring us evidence of her death. She is too dangerous to be allowed to roam the universe and will surely kill again. We have provided a photograph and physical description of her. She is presumed to be on Pandora, armed and deadly. Contact Brother Harker to accept our contract and send proof of the death._

Opening the picture, he saw a serene looking young woman with long blue hair dressed in a strange set of robes. He immediately recognized the markings around her collar as those used only in relationship to the divine. _So this is Athenas' living diety,_ he thought with a little smile as he looked up at Siren across the room. She was worshipped as the most powerful and important being in the universe yet all it would take is for him to raise his sidearm and squeeze out one bullet. There would be no fight or protest from her. Just one single bullet and she would be silenced forever. _She is not a challenge,_ he acknowledged but it was tempting to kill her just to prove that she was not a goddess but was merely a human with a genetic mutation.

_Do not decide now,_ he finally told himself as he continued to watch her think. He would wait until more was revealed about the Vault and then he would decide whether to take the contract or not. For now, she was more useful alive. She and the other Vault Hunters would be necessary to quickly reach the supposed headquarters of the rebellion against Hyperion and a potential source of information on the location of the Vault. _Delicate timing. Patience is best for now. Death will come later._

Again, he smiled wide, the sensors of his helmet activating with the muscle contraction so that a red hologram flashed in front of him, mimicking his expression. The light pulled the Siren from her thoughts, her steely eyes flashing in his direction. He watched as she rose and moved towards him with a serious expression.

"You're not sleeping?"

Zer0 looked at her, unsure whether her question was more a statement of the obvious or a desire to know the reason why he didn't sleep. It was one of things he hated about speaking with people. They never were just plain with their words.

She gave him a long, searching look that almost made him feel uncomfortable. He had forgotten how intense a Siren's eyes could be; especially considering this Siren was not slumped against a wall slowly bleeding out from a lethal wound. _Not yet at least._

As if hearing his thoughts, she leaned back and crossed her arms over her chest. "I don't trust you. I want you to know that."

He let out a little snort as her eyes narrowed and she attempted to stare him down. Standing, he let his lean body extend to its full height so that was staring down at her. "Good," he said, his voice not betraying the satisfaction he felt over her increased breathing and rapidly blinking eyes. She was intimidated by him, no matter how confident her words or sharp her eyes. It was as it should be.

"I don't know who you think you –" she started when a loud thud sounded from above them, snow and ice falling from the roof.

"What was that?" the alpha male shouted as he snapped awake, his head moving about to find the source of the noise.

"I don't know," the Siren answered, moving away from Zer0 as she went to be with the other Vault Hunters. "Do you think it's Hyperion?"

The noise came again, louder and more persistent as whatever it was moved above them. Zer0 ignored the screams of the child as ice and snow fell on her and the others, along the alpha's call for him to come and help move the nearly dead Truxican out of harms way. Instead he turned his helmet upwards, focusing on the sounds, following their path above him. _The steps are irregular in rhythm. This is not a robot,_ he thought as he raised his pistol up, his finger tight against the trigger. Slowly, he followed the continued movements of unknown creature, his feet crossing gracefully with each twist and turn he made. Blocking out the noise of the Vault Hunters he focused on the thuds, anticipating where they would land next until he felt that he understood the creature. It had six legs, each as large and thick as an elephant's, that it used to move pieces of the icy igloo they currently were in. It was almost as if the creature was searching for something, but growing more agitated if the sounds of smashing ice and snow were any indication.

Letting his instincts guide his steps, he fell in sync with creature so that they moved as one. The world around him was gone and all that mattered was the deadly dance he was performing as he made a few small turns towards the hole in the ceiling and let out all of his breath. A roar broke through the silence as a massive furry body dropped through the hole, the world around the assassin flashing back to life with screams both human and mechanical. Zer0 let his finger pull back on his trigger, his arm instinctually correcting for the little kick of the gun as he kept firing, emptying his clip into the beast's roaring head. His hand automatically reached for a second clip, a large smile activating his version of non-verbal communication over the spurts of red staining the animal's white coat.

He fired three more shots at the creature as it roared out in pain, striking at the nearby Claptrap. Zer0 could hear the alpha male's shouts at the other Vault Hunters to strike out at the beast while his threw out his turret, but the beast had already retreated through the ceiling by the time any of them managed to squeeze out a bullet.

"_My eye!_" the Claptrap wailed while spinning in circles.

"What the hell was that?" the child yelled out over the noise of the screaming robot.

"_My eye! Knuckle Dragger got my eye!_"

"Shut up, Claptrap!" the alpha male shouted, quieting the robot to a few mechanical whimpers. "Now is anybody hurt?"

"I'm fine," the child answered. "Maya?"

"Fine," she said wiping a piece of blue hair from her face. "Is Salvador okay?"

"He's still breathing and doesn't look like he got hurt. Now Claptrap, what was that thing."

"Knuckle Dragger," the robot whined, his metal hands twitching around his face. "He took my eye."

"What's a Knuckle Dragger?" the alpha pressed.

"He's a bullymong," the robot started to explain, his high-pitched mechanical voice grating to Zer0's ears. Had he not had years of rigorous mental training to tune out distractions and focus his mind he doubted that he would be able to tolerate the useless noise and annoying chatter of the group. Especially now that they all seemed to be talking at once, they most certainly would have been silenced by the edge of his sword.

The assassin moved away from the Vault Hunters who had congregated near the Truxican and inspected the hole the creature had dropped out of. Blood had melted into the snow and ice in deep red blotches creating a nice trail to track the beast that was still alive despite having a clip emptied into its head. The species this Knuckle Dragger belonged to obviously had evolved some sort of tactic that allowed it to overcome his lead projectiles and still have the strength and speed to flee. For the first time since the train explosion he found something worthy of his attention. He had no knowledge of bullymongs and what their anatomic and physiologic makeup entailed. What were the creature's weaknesses? Clearly it had impressive muscular prowess and had easily been able to use the ice to its advantage when escaping, but did it have other defenses?

There was only one way to find his answers to fully test himself against these creatures. Moving towards the cave's entrance, he decided he would track the beast and face it again. He would learn its secrets to surviving in the harsh Pandora tundra as he stole its life with the pull of his trigger.

"Hey!" the Siren called out, pulling him from his thoughts. "Where are you going?"

He turned back to find the three healthy Vault Hunters staring at him. They were pathetic the way they seemed to huddle together as if for protection. Yet what would their little pack do for them in the end? Already, one of their number laid unconscious and useless, though the others seemed equally as worthless with their slow reactions and inability to hit a moving target. Once more he was struck with the angry frustration that he was at all connected with these _Vault Hunters_ let alone trapped to travel with them to reach his larger goal. Had his gear not been damaged in the train explosion or even if he had a hint as to where the Vault was held all four of them would be dead by his hand.

_We have a common purpose,_ he reminded himself, his hand twitching slightly near the hilt of his sword. _They are necessary until my gear is repaired and information is gathered_. Sighing he let his gun hang at his side while he very pointedly looked at each one of them before deciding it would easiest to answer the alpha female's question and reduce the amount of time wasted with them. "Hunting."

"What do you mean hunting?" their leader asked.

Zer0 smothered a groan at how annoying communicating with humans could be. "Idiotic words, stupid and pointless questions. It is obvious."

"You're going to go get my eye?" the robot asked with a mechanical sniff. "Oh minion! You are my favorite of all my minions! Knuckle Dragger's cave is out this way," he finished with a grand motion towards a small door at the back of cave.

"Are you really going to go get his eye back?" the child asked, her eyes growing wide with excitement. "Can I come too? Please let me come! I want see what else is out there!"

"Wait," the Siren jumped in, "We can't all just chase after this Knuckle Dragger and leave Salvador lying here. Besides, we aren't prepared for whatever is out there. What if there are more of those things? It's too dangerous to go after that thing right now."

"Oh come on, Maya! We can't just sit here waiting to be one hundred percent ready for _everything_. Besides, it would be cruel to make Claptrap roll around blind."

"What about Salvador, Gaige? Did you forget that we have to take care of him?"

"Fine, you stay here and I'll go with the freaky mask dude to kill Knuckle Dragger! Problem solved."

"You are _impossible!_ Axton, you talk some sense into her."

"I have to agree with Maya. It is too dangerous for you to be going out there alone, Gaige."

"I won't be alone, I'll be with Zer0."

"That's not a good idea."

"Why?"

The alpha male seemed uncomfortable, glancing up at Zer0 before slowly answering the girl's question. "You have to learn to be careful about who you trust."

"Am I missing something here? Weren't we all were on the train together? Aren't we all here because we wanted to find the Vault? Doesn't that make us a team?"

"No," Zer0 cut in, moving towards the door the robot had pointed to. He was done with the pointless conversation. He had no more patience for the humans, whether it was prudent to travel with them or not.

The alpha male moved so that he stood in front of the door, his arms crossed and eyes glaring at the assassin that approached him. "See. I knew we couldn't trust you. Bet you would murder us in our sleep the first chance you get," he finished, blocking the path that the robot promised led to the bullymong's cave.

"Move."

"No," he said with a smile, his eyes daring the assassin to make him. Zer0 was happy to comply.

Thrusting his left hand out, he grabbed the ex-soldier by his throat, lifting him a few inches off the ground while turning his body so that his pistol was aimed for the Siren's head. The women both screamed while their leader squirmed and tried to pry the tight grip off his neck. "I'm bored with this talk, arguing about what's next. You _will_ move for me."

His grip tightened for a moment as his anger coursed through his veins. He enjoyed the way the man struggled against his hand, his eyes wide and lips beginning to turn blue. All it would take is for him to squeeze a little harder and the leader of the Vault Hunters would be dead. _He is unworthy of my energy_, he thought, shoving the gasping man from his path and moving towards the door. Behind him he could hear the Siren shouting something and feel the prickling sensation of her strange power in the air around him, but he left too quickly to be caught up in her orb. As the door slammed shut behind him, he felt a weight lift from his shoulders with the silence and freedom that was before him. Taking a deep breath, he pushed the Vault Hunters from his mind and set off in search of Knuckle Dragger and the challenge he may present.

The air outside was cold, the wind finding the tear in his suit and making the new flesh tingle and burn. He scanned the frozen wastes taking in the large walls of ice that created a deep crevasse in the dingy white snow. It was easy to spot the bullymong's deep red blood against the uniform landscape that created a dark trail for him to follow.

As he walked he began to notice that there was no evidence of any vegetation or wildlife as far as he could see, leading him to believe that the bullymong population must sustain themselves off minerals found in the ice and ground. _Perhaps it leaves metal deposits in their skeletons, giving them added strength and durability,_ he thought as he moved across the open expanse of ice, carefully following the red splotches of blood. It would be an easy explanation as to how the creature survived being riddled with bullets. If any metallic compound was ingested and stored by the creature it would lend a greater durability to whatever structure they happened to kept in. Eventually, the organism might even evolve to be able to more efficiently store the minerals and use them to their advantage. In fact, if this were the case with the bullymongs it would not be unlike his own cells that his race had adapted over millennia.

_This will make it more difficult to kill_, he thought as the trail of blood disappeared up a sheer wall of ice. _Bullets will not be able to penetrate as deeply_.

Putting his gun in the holster on his belt, he looked at the wall to see if it would be possible to climb. The ice was jagged and had many irregular edges that he could use as foot and handholds, but just as he was about to attempt to scale it he heard a soft crunching noise coming from behind him. He grabbed his pistol and held it out using both hands to hold it steady. The rhythmic noise grew louder and soon mixed with a mechanical whirring sound. _Someone is coming_.

He only had to wait for a few minutes before the loud footsteps emerged from behind a pillar of ice, their owner hugging her exposed arms that were nearly as red as her hair. She was muttering to herself as she walked, ignoring the incessant chatter of the eyeless robot that followed her. "Oh _thank god!"_ she shouted as she spotted him still aiming his gun at her. "I thought we were _never_ going to find you!"

"Minion! My seeing-eye minion has come to help you in retrieving my eye!" the robot exclaimed as it ran into a pile of snow. "I meant to do that."

"Sure you did, Claptrap," the redheaded girl said through chattering teeth, smiling at the assassin despite his threatening stance. "Geez, it's freezing out here. How are you staying warm?"

Zer0 stared at her, the question that was swirling around his mind coming out as a red question mark from his helmet. The teenage girl gave him an amused look before shrugging. "I was bored with them just talking, too. I can help you get Claptrap's eye back."

"No."

"No? I can help! I swear I can. You saw DT last night. You know that I can help you kill Knuckle Dragger. "

"No," he said more aggressively, turning from her and moving back to the wall of ice. Grabbing the nearest edge he could find, he began to carefully climb despite the girl's continued protests.

"Come on! I didn't follow you all this way just to be told no. I am an adult you know. I can do what I want. I don't need your permission. I'll just go find Knuckle Dragger on my own and kill him, so it doesn't even matter if you don't want to take me with you," she shouted as he climbed higher on the wall. "Seriously? _Come on!_ I stood up for you to when Maya was going to shoot you! Doesn't that count for anything?"

Zer0 continued his climb, doing his best to ignore her continued yells while attempting to listen for the sounds of any approaching danger. Glancing down at her, he felt an urge to shoot her and be done with it but he knew it would just be a wasted bullet. She was no threat, even with her robot. She did not have the instincts of a warrior or even the edge necessary to force others to bend her will. In an environment like Pandora, she would not survive.

"You know, you're an asshole. You're no better than Axton or Maya. I hope that you –" she stopped abruptly as a loud growl echoed across the crevasse. "What was that?"

He felt them before he saw them, an uneven vibration through the glacial ice making his fingers tingle. It was only a moment before the snow in the distance seemed to fly up into a white cloud filled with roars and growls. _Bullymongs_.

"Zer0!" the girl shouted up at him, "What is it? What's coming?"

Dropping down, he drew out his pistol and let his ears focus on the noise. He made out three distinct growls coming from the charging group, but he was almost certain that there were more. He raised his gun, his years of training widening his stance and tensing his muscles for what was to come.

"What's happening, minions?" the robot whirred, his metal body bumping into the piles of ice and snow that sat drifted in the crevasse. "Wait, I know that noise…Bullymongs! Ahhh!"

"Bullymongs?" the girl asked as the robot rolled back the way they had come, his arms waving in the air. She turned back to the assassin, her eyes wide and unsure. "Zer0," she started slowly, her voice growing more panicked. "I don't have a gun and I know DT can handle bullets but I have never tested him against an animal before and I don't know if he'll be able to avoid getting hit and if these things are as big as that other one and if they hit DT they might destroy him and –"

"_Stop_," he shouted, not moving his eyes from the approaching beasts. He could see their bodies now, two at first, then a third who was quickly followed by two others. Their strong arms carried them across the ice faster than even he had anticipated as they leaped over large expanses of glacier. The first bullymong let out another yell, each powerful step pulling it ahead of the others and bringing it closer into range. Zer0 followed its movements with his gun, exhaling all his breath as he lined up his shot with the beast's snarling jaw. He pushed everything from his mind, focusing solely on his enemies as he pulled his finger back.

The bullymong roared in pain, blood spraying out of its mouth, staining its fur, yet it did not stop. In fact, it barely slowed. Zer0 fired again, hitting the beast near its eye as it sprung forward, sailing over his head and landing behind him. Grabbing his pistol with his left hand, he reached for the hilt of his sword, activating as he twirled to face his enemy. The girl screamed as the bullymong ripped a chunk of ice from the ground and hurled it at them. He dove forward, knocking her to the ground and rolling up to his knees. Squeezing the trigger, he watched as the beast jerked and let out a high-pitched shriek before falling to the ground, blood streaming from the hole where its eye once had been.

_One dead._

Turning quickly, he quickly lined up his gun with the nearest bullymong and fired the remainder of his clip at its head. He smiled at the screeched it let out as it fell midstride, its three companions leaping over its body to where he stood waiting.

"Goodbye," he called out to the animals, activating his holograph as he spun out of their path with his sword raised. Charging forward, he swung the blue digistruct blade at a nearest bullymong, putting all his weight behind his strike as he met the resistance of its neck. Blood splashed against his helmet and suit as he pulled his blade back, leaving a scarlet gash in its place.

_Two left, _he told himself as he spun away from a flying piece of ice. He charged at the hurler, dodging its continued onslaught of ice and snow. A loud buzz sounded from behind him, the girl shouting something just as he reached his target.

The bullymong swiped at him with its massive paw, its large claws barely missing the assassin as he twisted out of its grasp. The beast struck out again as it lunged after its prey in a primal rage. Zer0 danced around its attacks, his feet turning and spinning as he waited for an opening to the creature's neck.

From the corner of his eye he could see the redheaded girl's massive creation slashing at the other creature, causing it scream out in pain. The hurler turned at the noise, giving Zer0 the chance he was waiting for. Without hesitation, he closed the distance between them, jabbing his blade through its flesh and jerking it down. The bullymong's arms went limp as it slumped forward, crashing into the ice.

_Five dead, _he thought as he turned to see the child Vault Hunter running towards her robot who still floated over the corpse of the sixth beast.

"I got one! Did you see that? DT totally ripped that things neck out! It was probably the _coolest_ thing I have ever seen!"

Zer0 walked towards her, putting his blade back in his belt. She looked at him expectantly, as if waiting for praise over what her creation did. He had to admit that the wounds were clean from what he could see, but he had little appreciation for relying on a machine for survival. Moving from the body, he focused again on tracking Knuckle Dragger.

"Well, what did I tell ya?" she continued, despite his silence. "I told you I could help. And you did so good, DT! Mama is so proud of you! If you weren't covered in blood I would give you a high-five…Hey! Wait up, freaky mask dude!"

He sighed as she trotted up next to him, filling the beautiful silence with her chatter. "Do you think that Deathtrap could take on two of those things at once? I mean the way he was slashing at that one it didn't even get a chance to hit him back. I think he could take on a whole army of them. Oh, I know! I should give him some extra arms! Then he would totally be able to take on like four or five or a hundred bullymongs! He would be a bullymong killing machine! Ouu, and I could also rig up something for your sword. I could give it extra spikes or something so then when we go out and kill stuff you would be able to take down even more of these things!"

"No."

"No? You don't know what your saying. Seriously, I could increase your killing potentially probably by a thousand with just a few upgrades. I mean I could make it so your mask could shoot lasers from it or something and –"

"No," he snapped, stopping so that he could face her.

"Okay, okay, I get it. You're attached to your stuff. But the offer still stands."

His hand twitched as she smiled up at him, her green eyes sparkling with enthusiasm over her wind-burned cheeks. _Kill her and be done with it, _he thought darkly as a shout echoed across the tundra, checking his hand as it moved for his sword.

"Gaige!"

The girl turned at hearing her name, her smile somehow growing as she recognized her two companions rushing towards them with the Claptrap unit not far behind. "Axton! Maya! I killed a bullymong! You should have seen it!

"Gaige! Thank god your alive!" the Siren replied, ignoring the girl's talk of bullymongs and robots. "You should have never left without us. You could have been killed. And you don't even have something warm on."

"Geez, Maya, calm down. You sound like my mother. I'm fine! Zer0 and I took care of a whole pack of bullymongs. It was _unreal!_"

"We saw the bullymongs," the alpha male cut in. "But Maya is right. If we're going to get through this we have to work as a team. You can't just run off."

"Why? He did and you seemed just fine with it."

"That's different."

"I don't see how."

"Gaige," the ex-soldier started slowly, "You're young and you have a lot to learn – "

"_I'm _young? Seriously, Axton, you're like five years older than me."

"Seven and I have been training for things like this since I was a kid in military school. Add it up I have nearly two decades worth of training and fighting to your two days of seeing action. So yes, you are young and inexperienced."

"Oh I get it. Just because I'm eighteen and went to a normal high school and not one owned by Dahl I'm the one that gets shit on. And I'm so sure Ms. Blue Balls here was fighting on a daily basis while her little priests worshipped her as a goddess, I mean otherwise you would be hounding her too, right? It doesn't matter that I built a military grade weapon in my shed using scrap metal. Oh, no. That's not worth anything at all," she finished in a mocking voice.

"That's enough, Gaige," Maya snapped as she thrust a jacket at the girl. "You left without even putting on a something, so how smart is that? And I will have you know that the monks made me train every day to use my power. So stop with your pity party and let's go back to the shelter."

"No, I'm done waiting around for you two to make up your minds on what we're going to do," she answered, putting on the coat that had been taken off a corpse.

"We need to stick together," the alpha male pushed, continuing the pointless argument that Zer0 just wished would end.

He watched silently as the three yelled back and forth, their guard down to the world around them. _I could kill them all right now,_ he thought, his hand going to his belt. He only had three clips left for his pistol. It would be foolish to waste one of his remaining bullets on the Vault Hunters, especially when he had yet to face Knuckle Dragger again.

Moving his hand to the hilt of his sword, he watched the humans for a few minutes in silence. It was only hours earlier that he had decided the best decision was to travel with them and reap the benefits of multiple ears listening for information on the Vault. Yet now even the idea of facing a fleet of Hyperion robots with a damaged suit, destroyed rifle, eighteen bullets, and his pistol did not seem as foolhardy as it had before. At least if he were alone he would have silence and would be able to focus on the world around him rather than constantly being distracted.

_I would be able to kill the alpha and child before the Siren could react,_ he thought as he continued to watch them. It wouldn't be too difficult then to dispatch the blue-haired woman with her comrades dead, but he could not guarantee that he wouldn't be injured in the encounter. _No,_ he told himself disappointedly, pushing the thought from his mind. It was then that a new idea came to him, brilliant and simple and very likely to not fail.

_Hyperion will be more likely to focus on a group than an individual,_ he realized a smile creeping to his face. Although an individual was more vulnerable, a group was easier to track and would make finding them and killing them more efficient for Hyperion. If Handsome Jack was any kind of business man he would most likely take the more cost effective course, let alone the far more logical one of deploying his forces after four Vault Hunters than attempt to locate a single being in the wilds of Pandora. _Leave and let Handsome Jack deal with them._

Stepping back from the group, his fingers moved around his belt and found the little switch that activated his decoy. He pushed it, feeling the strange buzzing that came with shielding his appearance as a perfect replica of himself stood directly in front of him. Silently, he crept away, picking up his pace once he felt the Vault Hunters wouldn't hear his steps.

He was a decent distance away when the buzzing over his body stopped, marking that his decoy disappeared. He didn't bother to look back at the others with the hope that they were too absorbed in their inane talk to notice that he was gone. Instead, he focused on the sloping path created by the two massive walls of ice that ended in a jagged overhang.

Creeping to the edge, he took in the open space below with a mixture of annoyance and excitement. It was filled with crates that were marked with the Hyperion logo and what appeared to be a barge lodged in the side of the glacier. It was the first time since boarding the ill-fated train that there was a chance at _real_ supplies, not just a few stray bullets collected by a malfunctioning robot. Unfortunately, the area was dotted with dark caves that appeared to be home to a pack of bullymongs. He observed them for several minutes, taking in their thick arms and lumbering gait. He was reminded of the gorilla species found on Eden-4 who shared a similar build and movement pattern, albeit with two less limbs than the bullymongs.

_Perhaps there is a common ancestor that was planted on Pandora millennia ago,_ he thought as one of the beasts bared its teeth at another one. _Or even congruent evolution due to similar environmental factors._ Yet with the latter it would be assuming a very similar history in terms of overall planetary evolution. Still, it had happened in the past where two similar planets with similar environmental conditions developed very similar organisms. The human's home world of Earth was a perfect example of this.

A loud roar broke through his thoughts, causing him to look up at the surrounding cliffs. There, thumping the ground with his two front legs was the massive, blood stained bullymong known as Knuckle Dragger. The others responded to his call with their own growls and snarls, the smaller ones scurrying towards their caves.

_He is their alpha,_ Zer0 mused as Knuckle Dragger paced from his perch, occasionally making a grunting noise or lobbing a piece of ice at one of the inferior bullymongs below him.

It was slightly amusing how most mammalian animals acted so similarly despite the huge variations in intellect. A leader was always chosen, generally based on appearance and strength. The leader controlled and intimidated the rest who fell into a neat hierarchy while also reaping the benefits of multiple mates, better food, and an overall better chance at survival. He assumed that there was some primitive genetic code that accounted for the cross-species behavior, driving those that were best adapted for life to live the longest and spread their DNA. Even at the base of his own actions he knew he was doing nothing more than an ancient dance testing his ability to survive while attempting to establish what his own significance in the universe was.

_That won't be answered today,_ he thought blandly as Knuckle Dragger crouched on the cliff, the wounds on his face looking freshly wet as if they had started to bleed again. Though the beasts were tough and definitely took more damage than many animals, he felt confident that the wounded alpha would not be a true challenge. It would, though, be a much-needed release of his frustrations and unused energy from the past two days.

Taking out his pistol, he kneeled onto the ground with the ease of a master sniper. It was no rifle, of course, and lacked the precision and range of his destroyed weapon, but he had a steady hand and a sharp eye. There would be no missing the oblivious Knuckle Dragger as he set-up his shot.

"Gaige, don't do this," the Siren's voice echoed in the distance.

"Damn it," Zero snarled, glancing back to see the child marching towards him followed by her fellows and the little robot.

"See, I told you he would be up here," the girl answered, her voice getting louder as they drew near.

Zer0 turned back to his shot, determined to fire at least once before the blundering humans alerted the bullymongs to their presence. He breathed in and let all of his breath out, steadying his arms when the ex-soldier's voice echoed behind him, causing the bullymongs to turn and look in his direction. "Alright, I'm done with this. I'm not one for following all the rules, but this is just plain stupid. He's an assassin, Gaige. He's not your friend and definitely not someone to be trusted!"

Knuckle Dragger disappeared with the noise, his roar drowning out the humans and driving the others to move. Zer0 stood and quickly took aim at one of the approaching beasts, firing four shots before it fell to the ground dead.

"What the hell!" the soldier yelled his loud footsteps marking that he was running towards the edge.

"Shoot!" the assassin shouted, as the pack began to leap up incredible heights to where they were standing.

"Maya! Gaige! We need you now!" he answered, pulling his pistol from his belt and firing. The other humans soon joined in the firing just as the creatures made it to their ledge, their sharp teeth snarling and thick arms swiping at them.

Zer0 fired the remainder of his clip, dropping his gun as the bullymong died mid leap, the body crashing to the ice below. In the distance he could see Knuckle Dragger dropping down from his perch, his roar adding to those around him.

He grabbed his sword and rushed forward, slashing at the legs of the bullymongs in his way as he went to meet the only one that could even potentially be a true challenge.

Blue light flashed around him as the Siren used her power to immobilize one of the creatures while the child's robot buzzed into existence. One of the beasts turned and swatted at him as he passed, forcing him to dive and roll to avoid being hit. Landing on his feet he sprung towards the offending creature, swinging his blade in arc that sliced through its skin. It let out a scream as he jumped towards it, his blade striking it in its side. He pulled his weapon back before striking it again, lethally thrusting the sword through the bullymong's abdomen. Without hesitation he continued on his path, his mind pushing away the steady rhythm of the soldier's turret and the flashes of blue light as he focused on Knuckle Dragger.

His target moved towards him, his strides covering nearly double the length of the others. Zer0 felt the satisfying surge of adrenaline mixing with his anger and frustrations as he slowed his steps and moving his sword perpendicular to his body as he sized up his foe. Knuckle Dragger pounded his feet against the ground in a primitive display of power, each thud sending vibrations through the ice. Zer0 smiled under his helmet, his muscles twitching as he waited for the moment to strike. "Come on!"

The bullymong answered his taunt by ripping a chunk of ice from the ground and flinging at the assassin. Zer0 spun out of its path and sprinted towards the beast while it worked to dislodge another frozen projectile.

"And I will face death. I will smile at the dark. My blade will taste blood," he sang out as he dropped to the ground and slid under the bullymongs powerful front limbs, his blade cutting through the tendons and flesh of the leg.

Knuckle Dragger howled at the wound, rearing up and slamming his uninjured legs on the ground. Zer0 rolled out of the path of the crushing blow, coming to his knees as the beast sent another piece of ice flying. He rolled and avoided a direct blow, but was still struck on his side. He let out a grunt of pain but moved to his feet and continued to stalk his enemy.

"Come on!" he shouted again as he turned his steps so that his back was to the wall of ice. Knuckle Dragger followed his movements, his legs bending as he prepared to leap.

_Ghosting,_ he thought with a smile as he activated his decoy and spun out of the bullymong's path. The creature oblivious to the trick swatted at the decoy while Zer0 scaled the wall, positioning himself above the animal. He waited for a moment, watching the fur on Knuckle Dragger's back ripple as he continued to attack the hologram. It was in the last moment of his decoy that he dropped down, using the speed of the fall and the weight of his body to push his sword through the base of the beast's skull, severing the thick bones that protected its spinal cord.

Instantly, the bullymong fell the ground, its muscles twitching as the last few contractions released their hold. Zer0 climbed off the body feeling satisfied, his boots leaving bloody prints in the snow. Looking up he watched as the Siren froze the last of the bullymongs in a blue orb of energy, the child's robot darting forward and slashing at it with its metal claws. It was an efficient way to kill, but there was no skill in it. They were weak and clumsy in their methods and their loud movements would always alert their enemies that they were coming. _They are not skilled,_ he thought grimly as they climbed down from the ice and started towards him, the Claptrap falling from the ledge behind them. _They will only be in your way, slowing you down to your challenge._

The redheaded girl reached him first, giving him a large smile before running past him and picking something up off the ground. "I found your eye, Claptrap! Claptrap?

"Over here, minion!" the robot called from where it was stuck upside down in a snow bank. "Can I get a little help?"

He watched the girl run towards the robot before turning to one of the chests that lay scattered in the snow. Opening it, he was happy to see an ample supple of ammunition and quickly started restocking his stores.

"Assassin," the soldier said grimly, approaching him with caution. "We need to talk."

Zer0 looked up at the young human, the irritation that had been released with Knuckle Dragger's death quickly returning. He flashed a quick question mark from his mask before returning to the chests with hopes of finding a sniper rifle.

"Look, I'm not one for waiting for a team or back-up, but if you're traveling with us we have to get one thing straight. You can't rush in blindly, not when all our lives are on the line and especially not with Gaige being around. What you did today could have gotten her killed, let alone the rest of us."

He didn't answer the human for a few moments, his attention on a pistol that he found. Turning it in his hands he examined the barrel to see how straight it would shoot. Satisfied, he put it in his belt and carried on. "Then I travel alone."

"As much as I hate to say this, I think we need to stick together," the Siren cut in, giving the soldier an encouraging look. "If Handsome Jack has the resources and time to blow up a train it wouldn't surprise any of us if he sent an entire fleet of robots after us. We'll be too easy to pick off alone. Our best chances at survival are staying together."

He looked up at the woman, slightly surprised that she would be the one to suggest his traveling with them. She had seemed the most cautious of the group yet she was the one asking for the wolf to lie with the lambs. _Interesting,_ he thought as the child and the Claptrap joined their group.

"Are we ready to keep going?" the girl asked.

"No, we have to go back and check on Salvador. We can't leave him up there."

"So we're never going to leave this glacier then."

"Stop, Gaige," the Siren groaned. "Just stop with the whining. We'll leave as soon as Salvador can walk or he dies, but not a moment sooner. I don't want his death on my hands because we abandoned him."

"But we need food and water and I'm not going to just sit up here doing nothing!"

"Wait, I've got it, minions!" the Claptrap cut in. "Even though Knuckle Dragger blindsided me I know my way around this canyon and if we are where I think we are Liar's Berg is just a little further ahead. We can go there for supplies and I can find somebody to put my eye back! And as much as I'm sure you'd like to jam your fist into my skull, optic surgery is best left to professionals. My pal Hammerlock in Liar's Berg can fix me up! Allons-y," the robot finished, rolling towards the massive Hyperion trailer.

"Is Liar's Berg a big place?" the soldier asked the robot as it found a control box and began punching something into the system.

"Not as big as Sanctuary. Captain Flynt doesn't keep enough crew around for it to get much bigger. But have no fear, my tough minion, those bandits will be easy for someone like you."

"Bandits?"

"Captain Flynt and his bandit crew run this glacier. Flynt and I have had a gentlemen's agreement in the past. I give him the loot from the bodies Jack ditches in the glacier, he promises not to torture me for hours at a time, then he does it anyway!"

"That's really messed up, Claptrap," the child said, leaning against the metal wall of the Hyperion barge. "Why haven't you left before now?"

"Getting to Sanctuary means getting my ship back from the nefarious Captain Flynt and that's why I have you!"

"I don't like the sound of this," the Siren pressed. "What about Salvador? What if Hyperion attacks while we're gone?"

"And what if they attack while we're there?" the alpha replied. "We need supplies and we need them quick."

"So we're just going to follow this robot into a town full of bandits?"

"For now, yes."

"Really?"

"Trust me, Maya. I've had years of experience running missions with Dahl into enemy territory for one reason or another. Once we have supplies we'll figure out what to do with Salvador."

"Fine, but if this looks like a lost cause we pull back, okay?"

"Agreed," he finished, turning back to the robot. "Any luck with that door."

"Ha! This door's Hyperion tech – child's play! Aaaaaaand _open!_" he finished slamming his metal fist on the door panel. Immediately a loud crunching noise came from the massive metal box, followed by a set of reinforced doors falling into place.

The alpha gave the robot a dark look, but before he could say anything their ECHO devices make a clicking noise in unison and a video transmission appeared. Zer0 wasn't surprised to see the woman from earlier that had invaded his privacy, though he also wasn't particularly pleased to see her. _I will have to modify this device when I have the time and the resources,_ he thought impatiently as the woman's hazy image began to speak.

"Lemme get that for you. Execute phase shift."

A strange electrical pulse filled the air as the doors suddenly opened with a loud buzzing noise. The others immediately smiled and shouted their thanks to the woman the claimed to be an artificial intelligence without questioning the odd way she managed to do it. It was as if they couldn't feel the energy around them being manipulated by the mysterious woman or the strange choice of words she used. _Even the Siren ignores it, _he thought, not moving into the container with the others to loot its contents as the woman's voice filled his head repeating _execute phase shift._

_If she is able to contact us and track us, she will be able to discover information about us._ It was a dangerous idea, not that Zer0 feared that anyone truly knew things he did not want to be known, but that this mysterious _artificial intelligence_ who could fill the air with the same energy of a Siren may know his bloody history with her type and choose to attack him using her obvious access to the planet's infrastructure. It was a potential enemy he currently could not find and therefore unable to face, making the situation very dangerous.

"Assassin," the alpha called out suddenly, tossing something towards him. "Eat this. We'll need our energy if we're going to clear out the bandits tomorrow."

Zer0 glanced down at the can of pickled herring before turning away from the humans that were ignorantly making up beds in the Hyperion barge without hesitation. Climbing up the ice, he dropped down in a secluded spot that would lend him a little privacy from the prying eyes of the Vault Hunters. He opened the can, ignoring the stench, and lifted his faceplate up just enough to be able to fit the briny fish into his mouth.

_This is all so perplexing,_ he thought while he ate. _The Vault, the humans, the woman, the robot, Hyperion, and Handsome Jack. Pawns are being moved, but I cannot see the game. Who is hunting whom? _

Leaning back, he looked out over the unmoving snow of Pandora feeling the rare sense of triviality. He was the one in control of the world around him, never mysterious forces and powerful corporations. Hyperion's trap made him vulnerable while the humans made it even worse, yet the uncertainty over the unknown Siren and what her exact abilities and motives were made him reluctantly agree that perhaps staying with the Vault Hunters was the most prudent choice. No longer was there safety in the anonymity of being but one creature traveling a large planet so long as the woman could find him no matter where he went. _I must travel with them until I discover more about this Angel and if she is a threat,_ he decided heavily, his head bowing slightly at the thought. It was the only course he could see that would give him answers and finally lead him to the Vault; his ultimate challenge.


	6. Liar's Berg

AN: This chapter, ladies and gentlemen, is not very action heavy. In fact it is one of those necessary chapters that gives us things that aren't just in the game. So that being said I hope you like some the character things in this one and start to get a sense for where this may be going. Also, PashN pointed out that while the game intro has Zer0 as his name elsewhere in the game he is Zero. So I'll be using Zero from here on out.

Peacock – Is that _everyone_ on Pandora? And I would say probably like pork.

AlienPerv – It's like Journey says. Don't stop believin'. Yeah she is a little tense. No more suspense. I couldn't hold out any longer.

Ant Hill – Perhaps, perhaps not. As of now there will be a romantic component of this fic but I can't guarantee anything. I have found sometimes my best intentions never happen due to an unexpected turn my story takes. And you'll have to wait and see…Promethea was more than just having a little fun.

Dedicated Reader – Thank you! You are right in Zero getting to be arrogant. As for the potential of him procreating if it appears it will be done in a way that isn't the typical (or at least not what I read in other stories with lovey dovey endings). Hopefully whatever comes of it you will like.

INK-belle I might have forgotten to reply to you? If so, SORRY!

Thanks again to all the reviews, favorites, and followings. It makes me more excited to write and get you something a little more timely!

* * *

**Chapter 6**

* * *

"Two possibilities exist: either we are alone in the Universe or we are not. Both are equally terrifying."

― Arthur C. Clarke

* * *

Maya felt like she had barely slept when Axton nudged her awake after only a few hours of quiet. Groaning, she pulled herself up from the cold metal floor of the Hyperion barge, her muscles tight and aching from the previous two days. She could only imagine what she looked like after everything they had been through, and if Axton's greasy and blood splattered appearance was any indication she knew that it was not something she wanted to see.

Rubbing her tired eyes, she watched as Axton woke Gaige, her mind wondering what the hell a girl like her was doing on a planet like Pandora. She could not imagine what sort of parent would actually allow their daughter to run off to a bandit-filled place with a reputation for violence. Granted, she didn't have parents herself, but she felt she could safely assume that either the teen had run away from home or she had parents that could rival the monks in how they showed their _love_.

"So we're actually going to go into this Liar's Berg then?"

As if on cue, the little Claptrap bot rolled into the barge, the gapping hole in the center of his unit sending a few sparks flying from the loose wires. "We have to find my friend, Sir Hammerlock, to fix my eye! And then to get my ship back!"

"Gaige, why don't you just fix it?" she asked, causing the girl to stop shoving food into her mouth.

"I dun ha da tooh," she said with a mouthful, swallowing roughly and repeating herself at Maya's blank stare. "I don't have the tools. I only have a hammer and a screwdriver. Claptrap is right. His eye is more complex than that."

"But you seem just fine working on your robot with those."

"I made DT so I know everything there is to know about him. Most of his parts I can fix with my bare hands. I've never worked on a Claptrap unit before and would hate to mess him up because I didn't have something I needed to fix him."

"See!" the Claptrap cut in, his arms moving enthusiastically as he talked. "We need the professionals! Sir Hammerlock is a scientist, he'll know what to do!"

Maya sighed, realizing that there was probably no way out of this fools errand. She couldn't understand why no one else saw it that way, even Axton looked excited as he began to hand out firearms from the Hyperion crates. She, unlike the others, didn't feel right about abandoning Salvador of blindly leap into something with very little preparation. Even coming to Pandora, though spurred by the death of Brother Sophis, was based off of years of researching Sirens and reading the work of Patricia Tannis. She knew that the planet was dangerous when she came here. She already knew about the Vault and Eridium and, unlike her fellows, had an idea of what an all-powerful leader like Handsome Jack could really be like. The monks had shown her how dark and twisted power could make a man and Hyperion's president already was drunk on it.

_And he'll just be waiting for his chance to kill us,_ Maya thought grimly, her lips forming a thin line. _This is a bad idea._

"Gaige," Axton called out, drawing Maya from her thoughts and back to her companions. "Do you think you can handle a shotgun? It has a lot of kick but you don't need to be as accurate."

"What are you saying? My shootings bad?" the redhead played, her pouty lips grinning foolishly. She looked like a mess with her stripped stockings and shirt torn and a small cut on the side of her face from the bullymongs, yet none of that seemed to phase her. It was as if the girl was oblivious to the danger they were in and saw all of it as a funny game. "Of course I can handle a shotgun!"

"Have you shot one before?"

"No, but how hard can it be? Point at a bad guy, pull the trigger, wham bam thank you ma'am, they're dead!"

"It takes a little more than that," Axton answered, slinging the shotgun over his own shoulder and handing her a small pistol. "This will shoot faster and you won't have to reload it as often. It also won't send you flying off your feet the first time you shoot it."

"But I want the shotgun!"

"Not until you've shot one when our lives don't depend on it."

"I'll shoot it now, then, Mr. Bossypants."

"No. We don't need any bullymongs or bandits knowing where we are. Just take the pistol and be happy."

"Fine," the girl grumbled, grabbing the gun and slipping it into her skirt.

Axton ignored the teen and continued to examine the pile of guns he had made. Holding up a large rifle with a scope on it, he expertly held it as if tracking an enemy, his eyes squinting through the scope. Yet before any of them even realized he was there, the assassin grabbed the gun from the soldier's hands. "Mine."

"I was going to give that one to Maya."

"No. Siren's fight at close range," the assassin replied, examining the gun for himself with the care that the monks gave to their ancient scrolls.

Maya snorted, "What do you know about Sirens and how they fight?"

He looked at her at what she could only assume was a glare by the way her skin prickled. "I know," he answered before stalking off towards the other end of the barge.

She continued to stare at him, watching his graceful movements with a mixture of distrust and fear. Even though his mask made almost everything sound the same, his response to her question unsettled her slightly. _You're being foolish,_ she told herself, looking back at Axton who gave her a dazzling smile as he handed her a long-barreled repeater pistol. "This should work for you."

"Thanks," she answered, holding the gun by her side. "Are you _sure_ that this is the best choice, Axton? Are you absolutely sure?"

"No, I'm not absolutely sure about anything when it comes to Pandora. All I know is that Handsome Jack wants us dead for some reason and at some point we have to move. Right now the only good options seem getting to Sanctuary and only the robot knows how to get there."

"And this isn't just because your getting stir crazy and want some action, is it?"

"What would make you say that?"

"Come on, Axton. From your stories it's obvious that you like to be in the thick of things. Hell, in a couple of them it didn't even seem like you cared if people died so long as you got to go show off your skills."

The soldier frowned and mumbled something that sounded like _typical _and _just like Sarah_ before giving her a hard look. "Maya, I don't have the resources like I did in those stories. I have my old lady and this shotgun and that's it. I don't even have a single grenade, let alone an unlimited arsenal at my disposal. Now, I might like a thrill or two but I have no intention of having my brain splattered against a glacier by some bandits _or_ by Hyperion. So could you just trust me? Just a little bit?"

"Fine, fine. I'm sorry. I just have a bad feeling about all of this."

"Is that a Siren thing? Do you get premonitions or something?"

"No, this is a _I want to survive_ thing and my gut is telling me walking into a camp of known bandits isn't the best way to do that."

Axton laughed, his blue eyes sparkling out from his dirty face. "Maya, you're a Siren. You told me yourself those monks on Athenas trained you to use your power. Don't tell me your scared of some crazy convicts that got their hands on some weapons, are you?"

"It's not funny, Axton. I'm being serious. This is really dangerous."

"Even if Liar's Berg is filled with those little midget guys? You have to admit, the little bastards are kinda funny."

"Not when they're trying to kill you."

"This is Pandora. Everything is trying to kill us," he replied as he moved to where the assassin was waiting. "No point in letting it drag you down. You'll just end up getting depressed."

She watched as the Claptrap opened the other door and her companions moved back out into the snowy wastes without hesitation. Even the assassin moved quickly forward, though he noticeably kept his distance from the others. Sighing, she looked down at the gun that she held in her right hand. _You have the training, you might as well use it,_ she thought grimly as she forced herself to follow the other Vault Hunters. "You've killed a few bandits already, you can do it again. This won't be that hard."

It wasn't a very convincing pep talk, but she did her best to ignore the knotted feeling in her stomach as she stepped out into the snow. She blinked a few times until her eyes adjusted to the bright light reflecting off the glistening ice as she caught up to the others. Already she could see a small settlement ahead of them, nestled between the glacial ice as if that would act to protect it from attack. _Those bullymongs didn't seem to have a problem climbing or jumping or falling for that matter,_ she thought grimly as she looked down at the town.

Axton nudged her slightly, giving her a smile and a quick thumbs up as they reached the edge of the icy wall they were walking on. "We can spy on Liar's Berg from here and see how many bandits we'll be dealing with."

"No need, fearless minions!" the Claptrap answered, moving towards the edge of the cliff. Maya was sure he would have rolled off had it not been for Gaige reaching out and grabbing him with her metal arm. "Captain Flynt's crew is small and should be no problem for mighty Vault Hunters like you!"

"Claptrap, let us deal with the bandits and you just stay out of the way, how about that?" the soldier answered before turning back to Maya and Gaige, ignoring the assassin completely as he crouched low and pushed the scope up against his mask. "As I was saying, we can get a lot of information about what we'll be up against if we watch the town. We can see…Oh what now?" he moaned as his ECHO device made a few clicking noises marking an incoming transmission.

A screen appeared in front of them as the caller's appearance began to appear, the familiar cocky grin and groomed brown-hair marking Hyperion's president and their potential killer.

"Attention people of Pandora. Handsome Jack here, offering a million bucks to whomever brings me the heads of the Vault Hunters who just arrived in Liar's Berg. Now don't waste my time by trying to bring me the heads of your buddy and think that I'll buy it. If you haven't seen the posters that Hyperion officials have started to circulate, let me fill you in. These people are unique and they are criminals. There's that Axton fellow, nice smile but also committed heinous war crimes against women, children, and puppies. You heard me, puppies. Gaige is the redheaded girl who murdered a classmate who beat her at a science fair. Don't know if you heard that one on the ECHOnet, but I wouldn't want my children hanging around with her if I were you. And don't forget the blue-haired girl, Maya. She's a Siren. Need I say more? Finally, there's that masked…man? Robot? Alien-thing? I mean who even knows, but he's the guy that shot down the tween singing sensation J-Beebs and deprived all of us of years of catchy love songs. If you want the reward you'll have to bring the helmet with the head.

"So that's it for now…Oh, and I'm still offering a reward for Roland, the mass-murdering leader of the Crimson Raiders. Good hunting, bandits!"

As the transmission cut Gaige turned to Zero her mouth hanging open. "_You_ killed J-Beebs? You actually are the guy that shot him in the throat while he was in the middle of singing that song about his girlfriend or whatever during one of his concerts? Oh _man!_ You are awe-some. Like totally my hero for life!"

"Not a fan I take it?" Axton snorted as Zero silently looked at the gushing girl for a moment before turning his attention back to his gun and the town.

"Are you kidding me? He made me want to burn my ears off with my solder. But all the other girls at school were like _oh J-Beebs, I love you._ You should have seen Marcy and the way she would sing his songs in the hallway like she had a good voice or something. I was all like _bitch please_ and she was – "

"Okay, okay, I get the picture," Axton answered as another clicking noise came from their second-hand devices.

A man in a horned helmet appeared on the screen before him, his transmission flickering in and out as he spoke. "A millions bucks? All right boys, this is Captain Flynt! I want you to find those Vault Hunters and bring 'em to me _now!_"

The words seemed to spawn a flurry of activity in the town below. Suddenly the vacant streets were occupied by men who Maya could only assumed carried guns, grenades, and any other type of weapon they came across that could be used to catch a _Vault Hunter_. Axton didn't seem in the least bit upset by the dozen or so men that appeared, in fact his face was lit up by a grin.

"That was the jerk that kept me as his torture plaything for a few months," the Claptrap said enthusiastically. "We would play things like 'dodge the blowtorch' and 'don't get dunk in the pool of acid'. I was really good at the first one.

"Again, Claptrap, that is really messed up," Gaige replied before turning to the soldier. "So what's the plan?"

Yet before he could answer a loud shot rang out, followed by a bandit dropping in the middle of the Liar's Berg street. Axton looked over at the assassin who was lining up another shot. "What the hell are you doing?"

He didn't bother answering as he shot again, killing another bandit and sparking the dead man's friends to begin to fire randomly in their direction.

"Seriously," Maya cut in, her frustration reaching its breaking point. "You are going to get us all killed! None of the rest of us were even ready to start attacking and now you've given away our position!"

Zero didn't seem to even hear her as he fired again and again, shouts mixing with his gunfire as more bandits met their deaths. He didn't even seem to flinch when the noise drew the attention of some nearby bullymongs, their roars adding to the bandits as the assassin continued to shoot.

"Shit," Maya hissed as the large animals zoned in on the assassin's shooting, their powerful arms quickly carrying them towards them.

"Aim for the heads," Axton shouted as he pulled out his gun and began to fire. Maya followed suit, holding out her gun while she let the burning tingle that seemed to always be buzzing just under her skin. It had taken her years of hard training to learn to pull on the tingling and build it up in her hand, the markings running down her arm itching and stinging as the energy waited to be unleashed. Focusing on the blue sparks that were forming a large sphere, she waited for one of the bullymongs to move a little closer before she thrust out her power, letting the energy drain from her body and freeze the animal where it was mid-leap.

"Gotcha," she muttered as she raised her gun and held the trigger down, her clip emptying into the creature's skull, killing it.

"Impressive," Axton smiled at her over a bullymong corpse that he had dispatched while Gaige's robot hovered in the air nearby. "We're starting to really look like a team!"

"Well, a team minus freaky mask dude," Gaige said, pointing to where the assassin was already descending the cliff without them.

"God damn it, he's going to get all of us killed. Come on"

"I told you we shouldn't trust him," Maya said as they moved down to where the assassin was already in the process of shooting the remaining bandits through a hole in the gate. He didn't even acknowledge their arrival as he carefully lined up a shot and discharged a round before angling his gun in a different direction. It was with cold precision that he killed the few stragglers, leaving the town silent.

"Hey, Zero, right?" Axton started as the assassin stood to his full height. "If we're going to be working as a team you have to wait for the rest of us. Or at least give us a chance to scope out the situation before you rush in and send a herd of bullymongs on us."

"There's no need to wait, you'd only get in the way. I didn't need your help."

Maya could see Axton turn red at the man's oddly rhythmic words, his jaw setting as his anger clearly was building. Deciding to step in for her companion, she gave the masked man a sharp look. "It's not about whether you _need_ our help or not, it's that we're in this together. If you don't work with us then you are putting us all at risk, so if you're going to be traveling with us you better fall in line and be a team player. Got it?"

The assassin made a small noise and slung his gun over his shoulder before crossing his arms. Maya got the distinct impression that he was glaring at her, but she decided that she wasn't going to let him bother her anymore. She was already stressed enough about everything that had happened since coming to the hellhole of a planet. She had killed men, destroyed robots, survived a train crash, was attacked by giant furry monsters, and was trapped on a glacier all the while being no closer to understanding anything about what it was to be a Siren.

The monks had always said that her powers were given to her to protect her people, though it never fully explained _why_ she had these powers. Then after everything that happened, she felt more confused about who and what she was, let alone why she was the way she was. _You won't be able to figure anything out if you're dead, _she thought grimly as the assassin continued to stare at her through his dark mask while Axton pushed at the heavy gate.

"Well this thing won't budge. Any suggestions?" the soldier asked, looking to the group.

"I know!" the Claptrap said, rolling up the gate and roughly bumping into it. "I'll get my pal Hammerlock to open it." He tapped on the intercom for a few minutes before a sharp static noise filled the air. "Hey! Hammerlock!" the robot called.

A dignified voice answered with a large sigh, the man's words dripping in sarcasm. "Spectacular! First Captain Flynt's bandits attack and then Claptrap shows up. I must have been horrifyingly cruel to puppies in a past life to deserve this kind of treatment."

"Oh, Hammerlock. We have an inside joke, mighty Vault Hunters, where he pretends to hate me."

"Vault Hunters?" came the voice. "You have Vault Hunters with you? So it is true that someone escaped that explosion. Well, then, Vault Hunters, would you be so kind to kill Captain Flynt's men for me?"

"We already did," Axton answered into the intercom. "The town looks clear."

"Did you? Brilliant! They have been shooting at my shack for days now. I haven't been able to leave for fear of being killed."

"That shouldn't be a problem now."

"Is it just you that survived? From the transmissions Jack has been sending out it sounded like there were more."

"There's four of us. Well five, but one of our group is injured. He's still back where this Claptrap lives."

"Out on the glacier? That's distressing news indeed. Let me open the gate and we can discuss everything more once you're inside."

"Thanks," Axton answered, moving out of the way of the gate as the sounds of gears started whirring. They watched as the gate began to rise up before it let out a loud screech.

"That doesn't sound right," Maya shouted over the noise as the gate seemed to be straining against some stuck part, the metal grinding and screaming in protest of the gears that continued to turn. The pressure soon was too much for the old and rusted metal as it gave one final shudder and fell to the ground.

"No wonder this place was overrun with bandits," the soldier said, cautiously stepping over the sheet of metal that had once served to protect the town from outside forces.

Maya followed him without a word, taking in the snow-covered ghost town. All the buildings were made of scrap metal, the walls rusted and discolored from years of Pandora's harsh climate. She couldn't help but wonder what sort of people had once called this place home, living in metal shacks in the middle of a dangerous tundra of bullymongs. It seemed like an odd place to create a settlement with little resources or way to make a living.

"Sir Hammerlock lives over here," the Claptrap said, leading them away from what looked like an outdated Fast Travel station and town information board.

"Wonder if that works," she said, nudging Axton and pointing at the odd bit of technology that allowed people to easily travel about a whole planet in fractions of a second. It was one of the wonders of the modern age that truly revolutionized how planets function and people lived. Or at least that's what she heard. The monks had declared Fast Travel an evil and outlawed it on Athenas, but she was sure it had less to do with the laws of their religion than fear of people having access to areas and information that they normally wouldn't have. _It always was about power with them,_ she thought cynically.

"Might. We'll have to check with this Hammerlock guy first."

As if hearing his name, a gate at the far end of the town opened revealing an elderly man holding a rifle. Maya almost had to laugh at his outlandish appearance. It was like nothing she had seen on Athenas, let alone Pandora where masks and an odd assortment of clothing seemed to be the norm. Sir Hammerlock, though, wore a broken set of glasses over a normal and robotic eye and what appeared to be some sort of safari outfit that she had only seen in an add for an _old Earth_ theme park. Yet, even though his manners and dress were bizarre to the desolate planet they were trapped on, Pandora had clearly left its mark on the man through the loss of his arm and a leg.

"Hello, I'm Axton, this is Maya, Gaige, and…well we think his name is Zero."

"It's a pleasure," he said stepping forward to shake of their hands. Zero, of course, stepped away from the group, showing no interest in the man or his cordial greeting. Yet if Hammerlock was offended he was careful not to show it as he took Maya's hand in his own.

"My, my!" he exclaimed as he saw the markings running down her left arm. "If I'm not mistaken, you, my dear, are a Siren!"

She gave him a wary look, pulling her hands back and crossing them in front of her chest. "And if I am?"

"Then I would say Pandora has a much better chance of dislodging Handsome Jack from his seat of power, especially if Lilith is found and joins in the fight."

"Who's Lilith?"

"She's a Siren and a Vault Hunter. Very powerful from what I've seen."

"And she's in Sanctuary?" she asked excitedly. It was the first time she heard of another Siren being alive and finally it seemed she might find some of the answers she was searching for. Surely this Siren would know something more than she did and would be willing to help a sister in answering all the questions that she had.

"She was, now she's off in the wilderness somewhere. Roland won't say where she is."

"Who is Roland?"

"He, along with the other Vault Hunters, are the people that helped open the first Vault and kill the creature that was inside."

"Wait," Axton jumped in, "I thought Handsome Jack opened the first Vault and killed the monster."

"No, that's just what he tells everyone. In actuality it was a group of four Vault Hunters who found and killed the Destroyer. Handsome Jack wasn't even in the picture at the time."

"What a lying asshole," Gaige muttered while kicking a lump of snow. "Seriously, how does this guy have any control of Hyperion? Wouldn't the shareholders want someone a little more honest?"

"He _is_ the primary shareholder from what I understand," the elderly gentleman answered.

"What's his obsession with the Vault then if he had no connection to the first one?" Axton asked.

"We aren't sure. Roland and his Crimson Raiders in Sanctuary have been spending the better part of this year trying to understand what it is that he's after. From what I gather, the first Vault just held a monstrous tentacled creature that wanted nothing more than to kill things. Had it not been for the Vault Hunters I shudder to think what would have happened. But now that we have more Vault Hunters we might actually see an end to Jack's reign of terror."

Maya frowned at his obvious reverence of these other Vault Hunters. She couldn't help but be reminded of Athenas and the way the people looked at her whenever the monks paraded her around. It was the sort of fearful worship that came when people believed that there was someone that could easily take away everything from them, even their lives, with a simple gesture. "We're just humans, Sir Hammerlock, nothing more. Just like how the other Vault Hunters aren't anything but humans."

"Having two Sirens on your team is not even comparable to having two _regular_ humans on your team," he replied. "And if Jack recruited the rest of you it means that he saw you as a legitimate threat. We must get you to Sanctuary to see Roland so you can help us fight Jack."

"What if we don't want to fight Jack?" she asked, feeling suddenly cornered and trapped into a duty that she didn't fully understand or agree to. She had left Athenas to learn about her heritage and what it meant to be a Siren, not to be coerced into some war on a desolate borderland planet.

"Unfortunately, my dear, Jack clearly wants to fight you. I could hear the explosion from here and see the smoke. I don't know if there would be anywhere safe in the universe for you to hide from him. He has the power of Hyperion and all of their robots, databases, and intelligence at his disposal. He would find you and kill you. It's part of the reason why only Roland remains in the public eye. The others have all gone into hiding, working against Jack in secret."

Maya looked over to Axton, giving him a look that she hoped showed how uncomfortable she was with this situation. They were nothing more than four people, unique people, but still just four people and not some godlike elite force that could save an entire planet from the violent control of a powerful company. In fact, they were barely working together enough to even be considered a team. _But Sanctuary might have the answers you're looking for,_ she couldn't help but think as the ex-soldier took up the conversation.

"So the Claptrap was right about there being a resistance in Sanctuary?"

"Oh yes. It is the last safe place that Jack can't reach. People have flocked there for protection as Hyperion has destroyed their towns and murdered thousands."

"And how do we get there?"

"Well I would say use the Fast Travel stations, but they, unfortunately, have not been working. It is part of the reason I have been trapped up here well past getting the data I needed for my bullymong research."

"We were hoping that they were working," he replied slowly, moving towards the large machine. "Gaige, want to take a look at it?"

"Do I?" she asked, a large grin filling her face. "I've always wanted to get my hands on one of these!"

The teenage girl rushed towards the unit and immediately set to work while the others watched for a moment. "So where is the fifth of your party?"

"He's still in the igloo that Claptrap lives in," Axton explained. "He was severely injured in the explosion and even with healing his wounds I think he might have lost too much blood. I'm not sure if he'll wake up or not."

"Hypoxia and shock are very difficult things for a body to handle," Hammerlock said solemnly. "The brain, unfortunately, doesn't seem to respond well to the cellular stimulation medicine we have."

"Well we can't leave him up there, coma or not," Maya said sourly. "He helped save us on the train so we have to help protect him."

"I never said we would," Axton answered as the Claptrap finally grew impatient and let out a long sigh.

"It would be nice, minions, if someone repaired my eye. How about it, Hammerlock?"

"Yes, I suppose I can fix that for you," he answered, going back to his shake in order to get his tools. Gaige let out a squeal of delight after Hammerlock set down a box full of various instruments that Maya barely recognized, the young girl returning to dismantling the Fast Travel with gusto.

For a moment the town was silent but for the sounds of tools on metal and wind blowing across the snow. Maya shivered a little in the cold, but did her best to ignore the numb feeling in her fingers and toes. Finally it was Axton who broke the silence, moving towards the teen and the machine she had somewhat dismantled. "Do you think you can fix it, Gaige?" he asked as she toyed with some of the wires leading to a large computer core.

"There's nothing wrong with the unit itself. Looks like Hyperion just remotely shut it down. Shouldn't take much more than a little reprogramming to hack back into the Fast Travel network and get things moving again."

"They are down all over the planet," Sir Hammerlock put in. "So you'll have to do it to each individual unit to get it to work. At least that's what Roland told me when I attempted to leave this god forsaken glacier upon the completion of my research."

"So you're basically saying that we can't go anywhere with this unless I hack into the other units?" she asked, setting down her tools with disgust. "Well that just sucks."

"At the very least you would have to fix the unit up in that igloo Claptrap called home to gather up your friend and bring him here."

"Alright," Axton said slowly, his hand drifting to the chain around his neck. "There's no reason for all of us to go back. I'll go with Gaige so she can fix the Fast Travel and we can get Salvador here."

"That sounds really dangerous, Axton," Maya answered. "We barely were able to manage the bullymongs on the way here and there were four of us. I think we all should go."

"The bullymongs shouldn't bother you," Sir Hammerlock said with a dismissive wave. "I have found from my research that once their leader dies the rest of the pack will generally split and leave in search of a new group to join. If you truly did kill Knuckle Dragger the local bullymongs should be on the move."

"Are you sure?" Axton asked.

"Absolutely. I have spent the last five years of my life watching the creatures, after all."

"Then Gaige and I will go and you will stay here and keep an eye on the assassin. I don't trust him."

"I don't like this at all, Axton," she answered, glancing over at the assassin who was still standing in the same spot he had assumed upon entering the town. "I don't trust him either, but I think it's more dangerous for you to go alone with Gaige and not have a second gun with you."

"Hey! I can handle myself," Gaige said roughly, popping her head out from the machine where she was working.

"I'm not saying you can't," she said quickly, feeling no desire to get into another argument with the headstrong girl. "I'm just saying that if two is good, three is better. We should all go"

"Maya," Axton said softly, pulling her away from the group and glancing back at the masked man. "I don't want him with us on this and I can't in good conscious leave him here with Hammerlock."

"I agree that he's bad news, but he is good at what he does and if you're attacked by more of those animals with just Gaige it might not turn out good."

"What? Are you worried about me?" he winked, his grin growing mischievous.

"Be serious, Axton. We talked about this. We have to just trust that the assassin is more pissed at Hyperion for the train wreck then wanting to collect the price Jack has put on our heads."

"That was fine when we all thought we were stuck in the wilderness with no way of going anywhere fast, but if Gaige can fix these Fast Travel machine…Well what's to stop him from trying to shoot all of us and disappearing?"

"Where's he going to go? You heard Hammerlock, all of the Fast Travels have been shut down. He can only go to places Gaige has hacked into and as of now that's nowhere."

"That's if Hammerlock has his facts right. Come on, Maya, you're Ms. Cautious. You've said it yourself that this Zero guy seems to be one step from shooting us all in our sleep."

Maya sighed, the complexity of the situation hitting her. "I feel like we just can't win. Salvador is alone up in an igloo and we need these machines to get him, but if we start messing with these machines we might be setting ourselves up to get our throats slit."

"No one ever said war was easy or even clear for that matter. Hell, half my time with Dahl we were covertly fighting our _friends_."

"Still, what's going to happen if I go with you and leave the assassin here alone? He'll go off on his own? He'll stay? I don't see what he could do."

"I don't want to give him the opportunity to make a deal with Jack over these damn ECHOs. You heard the offer he already made. What's to say that the moment he can get out of earshot he doesn't give away our position?"

"He probably already knows that."

"It's one thing to know what area we're in or what town, but to know exactly where we are and what we're doing? That's different. That's the sort of tactical information generals pay big bucks for."

"So I stay here with a guy that might or might not kill us while you go off with a teenager into the wilderness. No offense, Axton, things aren't looking too good for either of us."

"No one ever said Pandora was going to be easy," he said with a charming smile. "We just have to get our feet on the ground and get information on what the hell is happening on this planet. Then at least we'll have a better idea of who to trust and what to do."

"You're right," she sighed, crossing her arms as they moved back to where Gaige was busy tinkering with a circuit board. Looking back at the assassin she watched him as he shifted his position slightly before falling completely still. He stayed like that for a few seconds before his hands moved faster than she could even process, his gun pointing towards the icy cliffs that surrounded them and quickly discharging.

"What are you doing?" she yelled at the same time Axton cursed and Gaige let out a little yelp. The assassin didn't even acknowledge them as he seemed to glide towards the cliff, his quick steps long and graceful. It didn't seem human the way he was able to move, especially when he began to scale the icy wall as if it were no more difficult than climbing a tree.

"What is it?" Axton called out as they moved towards the cliff, Zero's helmet disappearing as he reached the top. It was a few seconds before he reappeared lifting up a lifeless corpse.

"Is it Hyperion?" Maya shouted, a knot forming in her stomach.

The assassin's masked flashed a smile before he disappeared from sight again. Maya turned to her companions, not sure what to make of the red hologram. "Is that suppose to mean yes?"

"Don't know what else that would mean," Gaige said, her face losing its normal cheerfulness. "We're screwed aren't we?"

"No, not yet at least," Axton answered. "But we need you to get that station working so we can get Salvador and keep moving. Staying anywhere too long is going to make us vulnerable."

Gaige nodded and returned to the machine with renewed vigor, her body curling over her work as she feverishly moved wires and typed code into its database. Maya watched her trying to ignore the dread that was filling her. Looking back up at the cliff a shudder ran through her as the assassin bobbed in and out of view.

* * *

The assassin had been decent. Zero could admit that as he paced around the man's corpse. Or at least he had been trained well. He was quiet and was able to remain completely still. Unlike many humans who attempted to live as a hired gun, this man did not reveal himself through the usual blunders of being loud and hasty. Yet he had not done enough to disguise his gun against the snow. The black barrel stood out against the white and the light reflecting off of his scope giving away his position. It was a common error and it had cost this man his insignificant life.

Still, the dead assassin wasn't completely useless. In his death he would provide Zero with intelligence on Hyperion or at the very least a better sniper rifle. So it was a complete shock when he began to play through the man's ECHO device and it became clear that he was not an agent hired by Handsome Jack.

_What is this? _he thought in disgust as he flipped through file after file of very familiar material. Yet before he could fully process what it was that he was seeing the Siren's voice cut through the silence of the glacier.

"Is it Hyperion?"

He stared down at the dead man, a cold anger building in him. He knew that the humans were waiting for answer, but he was not willing to share the true purpose of this man's appearance. Instead, he lifted the corpse high enough for the Vault Hunters below him to see and forced himself to grin. His masked flashed a mimic of his own expression, the red hologram reassuring little group enough that they turned away and left him alone on the cliff.

He waited until they were back near the Fast Travel station before he replayed the ECHO recording the dead man had been carrying. A familiar serene face appeared on a small digital screen as the message played out. "_Maya is a dangerous young woman. She was an orphan raised on the charity of order despite her constant angry outbursts and fits of violence. We attempted –" _

Wanting to hear no more of the recording he threw the device on the ground and smashed it with his foot. Anger began to build in him as the monk's words filled his mind. It was an insult to him and his level of skill that they would seek out others to fill the contract prior to him giving them an answer. _If they attempt to hire me then they hire me alone, _he seethed to himself as he began to pace around the body. "No one takes my kills."

Glaring down at the body, his mask flashed a bright red frown that caused the snow to glisten scarlet, the assassin's dark blood looking black in the contrast. _No one hires me and sends another assassin behind my back,_ he thought darkly as he pulled out his sword and quickly brought it down on the man's neck. Lifting up the head by the man's hair he quickly snapped a picture with his helmet before dropping it on the ground and giving it a rough kick.

"They are dishonorable," he muttered angrily as he composed a brief note to the monks, attaching the picture to it so that his message would be clear.

_You hired my skills_

_Yet another has appeared_

_I'll kill any you send_

Sending it, he felt a sense of righteous finality to the situation. He would not murder the Siren for the monks. Instead, he would respond to their insult by killing every assassin that they sent for the woman before eventually tracking down this Brother Harker and those that followed him. Then the would learn why he was the best at what he did and beg for forgiveness for the disrespect they showed as he slowly tortured each and everyone of the offending party. They insulted him to his very core with their obvious questioning of his skills and doubting his abilities. And that the insult came from insignificant, weak humans only added fire to his anger.

_Their deaths will be slow and painful,_ he decided as he descended down the ice and back towards old man's hut where the others had gathered.

He entered behind the other Vault Hunters and quickly found a dark corner to settle into. It was the most strategic position in the small metal hut as it gave him a clear view of the two little windows and the door that lined the small room.

"Welcome to my little home away from home, as it were," the elderly human said, waving to the sparsely furnished room. "If anyone needs to freshen up there is a washroom in the back. Otherwise you all may sleep here tonight. I have a couch and some extra blankets upstairs."

"Oh thank _god,_" the girl said, jumping up and moving towards the bathroom. "I feel like I haven't showered in weeks!"

"The water is cold," the old man said as the girl disappeared. "So what have you decided to do?"

"I will go with Gaige to fix the Fast Travel by Salvador while Maya and the assassin stay with you. Once we're all back we'll figure out a way to get to Sanctuary."

"Without the other units working it will be a long and dangerous journey."

"I know!" the robot cut in, "We just need my boat. Defeat Captain Flynt and it's smooth sailing all the way to Sanctuary."

"I don't know about that, Claptrap."

"He has a point," the elderly human said. "Hyperion has shown little interest in the waterways of this planet. It would be faster and probably safer than traveling by foot."

"And we have to kill this Captain Flynt to do it?" the Siren asked, her arms crossed in front of her chest.

"Unfortunately, yes."

The Siren sighed, while the soldier seemed to be thinking of their choices. "Then that's what we'll have to do. We'll get Salvador and kill Captain Flynt. It's the only way," he said with a yawn. "But I think we all need a little sleep first. How secure is your house?"

"If anyone tries to attack we would be alerted by the sensors I have set."

"Good, then let's all get some sleep tonight so we can get moving early."

The Siren and the old man did as the soldier said, falling in line behind the alpha male just as any primate would do. It was almost as if their genetic material overrode any freewill given to them by their frontal lobes. _Unthinking animals,_ he thought as they all moved from the room, leaving him finally in silence.

Leaning back he closed his eyes for a few moments and focused on his breathing. It was a meditative technique he was taught as a child, allowing his mind and body to enter a near sleeplike state without fully disabling him from reacting to the world around him. Yet, even mediation could not take care of the exhaustion he was feeling after days of high emotion and unexpected twists and turns.

_And your suit is still in need of repair,_ he reminded himself as he slowly opened his eyes. The house was silent and there was no longer the sound of water coming from the bathroom. Deciding to would probably be the most secure location in the house, he quietly made his way there and happily found that the small, windowless room was equipped with a thick metal door that locked.

_Good,_ he thought as he stepped inside shut the door with a satisfying thud and locked it, shutting out the sounds of the human's slow breathing. He stood for a long time in the silence of the bathroom, happy to be away from all the noise and stupidity of the humans and the Claptrap. It had been difficult to be constantly surrounded by their talk and their loud movements that told any potential enemies exactly where they were and what they were doing. After years of solitude he found that his tolerance of others was extremely low, especially when it disrupted his ability to eliminate his challengers.

_I could kill them,_ he thought once again, returning to the course he wished he could take. Yet he knew there was too much on the line to terminate the Vault Hunters just now. Between Hyperion and the mysterious Siren that seemed to be effortlessly watching them it was too foolhardy to leave the group. Perhaps once he learned the location of Sanctuary or further information on the Vault, but for now he would have to be patient.

With a sigh, he checked the lock on the door again to ensure it was secure. Slowly, he began the process of undressing. It was a bittersweet necessity, his skin needing to breathe and stretch without the comforting confines of his synthetic armor. Still, even if he preferred the suit, there was an odd satisfaction at the freedom of being out of the skin-tight armor, the cool air sending an overload of sensory information to his brain. It was rare to have the opportunity to truly enjoy being undressed and exposed to the world. In fact, excluding his experiment on Promethea, it had been nearly four months since he had fully taken off his suit. Contracts and traveling had taken so much of his time that he hadn't been able to return to one of the many secure locations he had created, forcing him to stay completely focused and guarded. Yet, the damage to his suit required that he make due with what he had, even if it was a far cry from something he would normally do willingly.

Snapping off his helmet, he repeated the process of acclimating to the cool, dry air that tickled his face and moved through his matted dark hair. Looking in the dingy warped mirror, he met his unmasked eyes and stared for a moment. It had been some time since he had seen his own appearance, allowing his brain to conjure a foggy image of what lay beneath his armor and helmet. He had forgotten how dark his eyes were, the pupil almost blending seamlessly into his large irises. They looked even darker compared to his pale skin that barely displayed any of the dark pigmentation that came with being exposed to the light. Instead, he was the light tint of blue often seen in humans exposed to the cold or lacking oxygen, though his coloring was merely a byproduct of the excessive amounts of silver found on the planet that had once been his home. In fact, his skin cells were practically identical to those of the Vault Hunters in their organelle make-up and genetic coding.

It was another moment before he pulled his eyes from his face and used the mirror for its only useful purpose; to check for any sort of wounds he may have missed in the adrenaline of the reclaiming Liar's Berg. Moving back towards the wall, he carefully inspected his lean frame, noting a few bruises were bullets had managed to hit his shield. Other than that, the only imperfections he could find was the patch of healing skin on his leg and the long, raised scar that ran across his chest. Satisfied, he returned to the sink and quickly splashed water on his face and body, using his fingers to dampen his dirty hair. Feeling as refreshed as possible, he quickly set about the task of repairing the hole in his suit.

It was a task he had done so many times it took little thought or effort to line up the long tear perfectly and make the tiny stitches. In fact, the skill had been a heavily emphasized part of his training as he and the others like him were taught that any mission might end with prolonged periods without being able to return home or to any of their bases. At first he had thought sewing and fixing his own equipment was beneath him, but he quickly came to appreciate it once he no longer had a home to return to and the universe was nothing more than a lonely and empty thing. He was forced to depend on his own skills and abilities to survive in the years of his solitude.

It was even more pivotal when he happened upon a galaxy his kind hadn't been to in thousands of years only to find a strange race of creatures inhabiting it. They were a race that he quickly found could not be trusted and were far inferior to his own. He could not and would not trust them, especially after spending years observing their behavior. _No,_ he thought as he finished his repairs. _You are fated to be alone._

Dressing again, he glanced at his reflection one last time before hiding his identity behind his mask. There had been a time when his solitude had bothered him, but after years of slinking in the shadows and living by whatever name the humans gave him he no longer desired company. Quiet and darkness were his companions while the screams of his victims was the only conversation he needed. Looking at his mask in the mirror he smiled. _This is your true face,_ he thought before turning to join the idiotic humans. _This is who you truly are_.


End file.
